Through the Looking Glass
by WalkerofDarkness
Summary: How would the IS story have changed if Ichika died during Chifuyu's rescue attempt? Who would have taken it worse? An idea I came up with and wanted to run with.
1. Chapter 1

Infinite Stratos - Through The Looking Glass

A/N: This is my first fanfic that I've published, though I will admit to have written a lot over the years. The idea came to me, and I wanted to give it a run. It will be somewhat AU, but most of the canon folks will be in there, maybe a tad OOC, plus a few OCs where I need them.. If I ramble a bit, I apologize in advance. I have a few good scenes in my head, but they're a tad disjointed and I'm working out how to get between each of them without it being garbage. Ignorant flaming trolls will be ignored, but constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated. I could also probably use a beta reader or even a full collaborator..

_Words_ = character thoughts  
**Words** = messages via devices (phones/radios)

Now it's time to set the stage and let the actors take their marks.

DISCLAIMER: I only own my original characters. The other characters both major and minor belong to their original authors.

* * *

Chapter 1  
When you lose a person you love so much, surviving the loss is difficult.  
-Cristiano Ronaldo

The graduating students were all lined up, having finished their last day at this school. The boys and girls were milling around, chatting with friends, getting one last bit of gossip in before they headed out.

"Hey, isn't that Shinonono-sama?" a male underclassman asked as they carried chairs to storage.

"Yeah, did you hear she got into the IS Academy?" his classmate asked, trying not to lose his grip.

"That figures, given who her sister is. She probably had some special 'in' with the academy staff..." a girl student said, trailing off as she noticed Houki's expression.

Houki Shinonono had heard all three students. She thought she had gotten used to all the teasing and innuendo about any special privileges she might have received because of her sister's development of the Infinite Stratos system. In the quiet nights when she was alone, she would much rather have had her sister been born to a different family.

She also wasn't going to let this slight get past her today. A quick step in and she grabbed the blouse of the girl with her left hand, her right hand landed on her throat and collar. Houki then yanked hard, drawing on the strength years of kendo training has given her, pulling the girl up to her above average height. The girl stood on her toes to try and avoid being strangled.

The two boys working with her dropped their loads as soon as Houki moved, but they stopped moving with a single glance from her. Houki's eyes blazed with rage and the promise of death, the ribbon in her hair seemed to dance on it's own wind.

"I. did. NOT. get. into. the. IS. academy. because. of. my. sister." Each word came out through clenched teeth; the voice a low, almost bestial growl that promised blood and suffering for everyone involved. "I got in because I worked harder than anyone else in this school. Something you would do well to remember before you insinuate I got ANYTHING because of my name."

"SHINONONO-SAN, DROP HER." a loud, male voice bellowed out from behind the trio.

Houki complied at once, the girl falling to the ground gracelessly. "Principal-sama, I apologize for my conduct just now. It was unacceptable."

"Hai, it was." The principal looked at the three who had moved against the wall when he approached. "You three should also learn from the lessons Shinonono-san just taught you. IF you work hard and don't try to rely on your family names, anything is possible. Now resume your duties. Shinonono-san, come with me to my office."

Houki and the principal walked around a corner as they heard the chairs being picked up again. They carried on down another hallway in silence, Houki's face covered in shame.

The office staff saw Houki walk in behind the principal, a common enough sight for them. The principal beckoned her to sit as he pushed the door closed. A long moment of silence hung between them, growing heavier until it seemed oppressive. "Talk, Shinonono-san."

"I have nothing to say, Principal-sama. My conduct was unacceptable and out of place." The words came out from a quiet place, her head down staring at her hands crossed in her lap.

"Hai, we have discussed that already. Now that you have apologized, I want you to talk to me, Houki-chan. IF you won't talk to me as a principal, then talk to me as your kendo instructor. What bothered you so badly?"

Houki's head came up slowly, her eyes watery. "Himura-sensei, I just heard their words suggesting I got into the IS academy and I just snapped. They said I was going because of my sister, and I couldn't take it. They have no idea why I'm going there, or what I had to give up because of my sister."

Principal Himura nodded his head slightly, his hand cupping his chin. One finger traced the scar along the side of his face, an old wound from a training accident. "That is something I wanted to ask you about as well. Why the IS academy? Any school would have accepted you readily with your grades and extra-curricular activities. Why go to the one place where your name might be called into light?"

Houki dropped her head towards her lap again, her ribbon obscuring her face. "I...need to go there. Of all the places I could go, the IS academy is the only place I can go that I might be able to get what I need."

Principal Himura knew this was important, having talked to his wife who served as school counselor. "What is that, Houki-chan?"

The head came up again, the eyes hard and focused. "The strength I need to get revenge."

—*—

"I'm worried about Shinonono-chan, Kaoru." Himura said over dinner that night.

"Why, what did she do now?" the question didn't even slow her pouring the tea.

"She said she needed to go to the IS academy to get strength for revenge." That statement caused Kaoru to spill the tea in shock.

"What?"

Himura recounted the entire day's actions with Houki for his wife. "'I need the strength to get revenge.' Her words exactly. What can you tell me about her sessions?" Himura's eyes matched up to his wife's, pleading without speaking.

"Not a lot without breaking my professional code. I can say she has suffered an extremely painful trauma a few years back. It left her...damaged. I know that in the time she's been at your school, we've worked hard to help her come to grips with it." A sigh paused the next statement. "I can see now that I failed with her on that."

"Do you know who she might want to seek vengeance on?'

"She never mentioned any names about it, but I do know she holds several people responsible for that injury."

Himura considered that for a moment. "Well, I can only suggest what I know then. Her kendo skills are superb, her physical condition is at the top in the school. Her grades never suffered, so she's smart. If she wants to go after someone for revenge, they might not have a long life ahead of them."

Kaoru picked up the attitude of her husband. "But given all of her strengths, whom would be stronger than her, and what have they done to wrong her?"

They ate the rest of the dinner in silence, lost in their thoughts.

—*—

The haze of cigarette smoke hung in the bar as the visitor walked in. Muted lights cast some shadowy corners, but the music was louder than previous times. _She's been in here too much lately. I wonder what set her off this time?_

The bartender looked up from the glass he was cleaning, smiling slightly at the sight of his visitor. "Hello again, Yamada-san. Thank you for coming so promptly."

Maya Yamada smiled lightly back at the bartender. "I came as soon as I could. Has she been a problem?"

The bartender stepped closer to Maya, dropping his voice to a near whisper. "Not more than the usual rowdies that come in here. Couple of new guys showed up and tried to pick her up. She had to tell them 'no' and a bit more forcefully than I'd like." He grinned at Maya, trying hard not to stare too much at her bountiful chest so close to him. "But all of the regulars will tell those two they got what they deserve. When they wake up."

Maya sighed a moment. "Okay, what does she owe you tonight?"

The smile faded, all business again. "Only sixty tonight, but I'll warn you that even though she wasn't drinking much, the stuff she ordered was potent."

Maya reached into her pocket and handed him a good supply of bills. "Here, keep the change as a tip for yourself."

The bartender went to the register and cashed it out. "You going to need help getting her home? I've got a guy on staff whom can take my spot so I can give you a hand."

Maya shook her head, her green hair waving from side to side. "No, I've got a good technique for handling this. It's never a problem. But thank you for the offer. She at her usual spot?" A quick nod confirmed what she already knew. Walking back to a quieter part, Maya found a small table with a person slumped on top of it.

The dark hair on the head fell down to mid-back, a few licks peaking out from it. An arm was supporting a face reddened from alcohol, but that didn't detract from the sharp, strong chin or the gentle curve of the face. Maya knew that if the eyes were open, they'd be brown and in her current state, bloodshot.

Stooping down close to her friend's head, Maya quietly spoke to her "Orimura-sensei, wake up. We need to go now."

A groan escaped the lips of Chifuyu Orimura, but wakefulness wasn't coming. "Nooo...don wanna wake..."

Grimacing slightly, Maya got closer to Chifuyu. "Come on Chifuyu, it's time to go."

Chifuyu's eyes opened slightly, but remained unfocused. "Yamadakun, izthatyou?" Her head started to come up as she tried to look at this new form.

"Yes, it's me. Batou-san called me to get you tonight. Let's get you home and in your bed." Moving slowly, Maya got an arm under Chifuyu's shoulder and started to stand her up. Chifuyu tried to help, but couldn't get her body working right to consider it 'help'. Batou started to come around the bar to help her, but Maya shook her head again.

"One little step at a time Chifuyu, here we go." Half carrying the swaying Chifuyu, Maya managed to get them towards the door. Batou stepped from the bar to hold open the door for them.

"Take care of her, Yamada-san."

Maya smiled quickly in reply. "Come on Orimura-sensei, we can do this."

The air outside was cooler, a nice contrast to the warm bar. Carrying Chifuyu wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but Maya had done this before. She continued on, taking it slow as necessary.

After half an hour and only a few falls, the two of them were standing at the door to Chifuyu's house. Pulling out her own set of keys, Maya slipped her key into the lock and let them in.

Chifuyu, slumped against the doorframe didn't try to help anymore. Her eyes had drifted somewhat back into focus now as she had gained some measure of sobriety. Looking around her place as Maya helped her in, she started to panic. "Sorry I didn't clean up b'for you came."

Maya glanced around the place. _Cleaning wouldn't solve this place. You would have to start by burning it to the ground. _The trash overflowed the garbage cans, litter was covering most every surface. Various liquor bottles covered large portions of the floor, all of them opened.

As they moved through the house to Chifuyu's bedroom, the mess only got worse. Her room had a futon mattress with a pile of dirty clothes stacked up in one corner, and even more liquor bottles in the other corners. A few small picture frames were lying in disarray along the walls, the glass in them cracked or ruined.

"Let's get you into bed Chifuyu. You'll feel better in the morning." Setting Chifuyu down on the futon, Maya pulled off the clothes that were soaked in spilled drinks. Sighing, she just added them to the top of the pile. Rolling Chifuyu onto her side, Maya noticed new scars on her arms, and how her trim figure was patchy and distorted.

"Chifuyu, you go to sleep now. I'm going to sleep here tonight, so if you need anything just let me know."

Chifuyu looked at her friend for a moment, trying to focus her eyes and mind but failing. "Thanks a lot Maya, I always need a friend like you." Falling over onto the futon, Chifuyu passed out once again.

Maya turned out the light and sighed again. Walking out of the room, she moved down to the hall to the other room. This room was spotless, untouched by the disaster that had become the rest of the house. _What set you off tonight Chifuyu? You'd been doing so well, but what went wrong tonight of all times?_ Catching a piece of paper on the top of the desk sitting there, Maya picked it up and read the date off it. Pulling her phone from it's pocket, she checked the date. _Oh. If it was anything, it would be that. I guess I'll have to talk with her about it in the morning._

Yawning from her exertions, Maya stripped and folded her clothes carefully, then climbed into the futon and went to sleep herself.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.  
-George Eliot

The sound of birds chirping outside the windows seemed to scream at Chifuyu as consciousness returned. The soft sunlight in the windows burned her eyes as she opened them to the world. Chifuyu tried to sit up, but that merely set the world spinning and caused the rock concert in her head to crank up the volume. A groan escaped her lips as she flopped back level.

"Chifuyu-san, are you awake?" Maya stuck her head into the room, getting a weak wave from her friend in return. "How do you feel?" she whispered, noticing a wince at each word.

"I feel miserable, so please stop yelling at me Maya-san." The hand that had waved landed on her face, covering her eyes. "That's nice..."

Maya blinked slightly at being told she was yelling instead of whispering. Lowering her voice to an almost inaudible level, "Is this better?"

"Yes, thank you." A shift in the hand let one eye peek out. "So Batou-san called you about me, eh? Feels like I really partied last night. But at least I didn't find myself in the street when I woke up."

Maya nodded a moment. "This time," her voice lacking any condemnation, but laden with concern. She moved out of the doorway, trying to stay as quiet as possible with all the junk lying around. "You just stay there for minute, I'll go get some water and something for your head."

Chifuyu let the hand cover both eyes again. "Yeah, sure. Not going anywhere."

A couple of minutes passed before Maya walked back in, carrying a plastic sports bottle with a straw, and a smaller bottle of aspirin. Helping Chifuyu sit up, she managed to get a mouthful of water and several pills down. Letting Chifuyu hold the sports bottle, Maya recapped the aspirins and dropped the bottle on a dresser.

Chifuyu felt the weight of Maya's eyes on her for several minutes as the silence hung between them. Getting more water down, she started to feel a little stronger. "So...how bad was it? Last night doesn't have much meaning to me."

Maya pursed her lips hard, the color fading out of them. "You weren't at your worst, but it was pretty bad. Batou told me you were ordering potent stuff, even if it wasn't a lot. Apparently a couple of guys tried to pick you up, and..." her voice started to crack, "you beat them up when they wouldn't take 'go away' as an answer. Batou suggested to me that they got what they deserved, but it still bothers me."

The revelation of being in a fight last night pushed down on Chifuyu, slumping her shoulders and threatening to bring her to the mattress again. "I...don't even remember any of that. To think the person who won the Mondo Grosso would be brawling in a bar..."

Maya knelt down next to Chifuyu, wrapping one arm around her friend's shoulders. "I know why you were out drinking heavily. Today's the anniversary after all. I'm sure you knew it , even if you didn't want to admit to it."

Chifuyu shrunk in further, giving the appearance of her being a child and not a full grown woman. "Yeah, I think I did know about it. It's been four years since it happened, but the pain of that incident, " Chifuyu's voice breaks and tears start running down her cheeks. "The pain hasn't diminished at all. All the doctors told me it'd get better." Her voice drops down to barely above a whisper. "I just want it to get better already."

Maya blinked hard at that last statement. If she hadn't been so close to her friend, she doubted she could have heard it. Slowly grabbing Chifuyu's head, she pulled it to her chest and held it there as she cried. "I wish I knew what to tell you, some perfect words to help you. But I don't know what to say, or if there's anything I COULD say that would help. I just don't know."

They stayed like that, the shorter, younger woman holding her friend for minutes; comforting as best she could. As the tears started to stop, Maya just kept holding Chifuyu's head, stroking the hair softly. Chifuyu finally pushed her head away from Maya, her eyes watery and red. "I'm sorry to put you through this. You're my subordinate, but you have to deal with me like this."

Maya smiled at her friend, hoping the worst of the day was over. "Just because you are my boss doesn't mean we can't be friends. And as your friend, I'm happy to help you with this. Now if you're feeling up to it, I think you should go get a bath and clean up. I'll get some lunch ready for you."

—*—

Half an hour later and seated at her own kitchen table, Chifuyu kept telling herself the only reason she didn't look around was the fact her head was still pounding. Supporting her head with one hand, she kept lifting the glass to her lips, continually sipping the chilled water. "Well, it looks like you've been busy Yamada-kun."

Maya didn't even pause as she put the fish, miso and rice in front of Chifuyu. "I had some spare time and just felt the need to do _something_."

"Something, huh?" Chifuyu's eyes tracked as far as she could see without moving her head. The counters were devoid of clutter, the garbage can was empty. She couldn't see a single liquor bottle anywhere. The rest of the lower floor had been similarly cleaned and organized. "Well, either I was more out of it, or you're really good at cleaning quietly."

"A bit of both." Maya took a depth breath, trying to summon her courage. "Chifuyu-san, I would like to ask you two things, and I don't want you to be upset by it. May I?"

Chifuyu's chopsticks stopped midway to her mouth. "After this everything you've done for me by now, I can't really deny anything to you. Go ahead."

Maya relaxed her face into a supportive smile, concern apparent on her eyes. "First off, I'd like to ask why you drink so much?"

Stopping mid-chew, Chifuyu blinked hard for a moment over the question. Swallowing, her face grew a bit pained as her voice came out quietly, "You know my history right?" Getting a nod from Maya, she continued. "Drinking is about the only thing anymore that helps quiet the voices at night. The ones who keep blaming me for what happened. Even though my rational mind says it's not my fault, there's still those doubts that keep me awake. After four years, I still can't sleep through the night if I'm not one step from passing out drunk."

Maya nodded, thinking to herself: _Is it going to be fine to ask that? She's already so fragile that it might do more harm than good._ Steeling herself against any possible reaction, she kept her voice soft for Chifuyu's sake. "My second question would be that since today is the anniversary, were you planning on going out to see Ichika?"

Dropping the chopsticks now, Chifuyu's normally pale complexion went ashen. Her head started to waver and her eyes grew watery. "I..." Chifuyu's voice cracked and broke, showing the pain she was in. Maya reached out and grabbed at her friend's hands, trying not to notice the scars along her wrists. "I guess I knew deep down what the date was even if I didn't admit it to myself." Chifuyu closed her eyes for a moment, trying hard not to completely break down at her kitchen table. When she spoke again, her voice was stronger but still laden with pain. "I guess it wouldn't be proper of me to not go. He is my brother after all."

—*—

Storm clouds hung low in the sky, their presence adding an ominous feeling to the quiet atmosphere. The rain came down strong and hard, fat blobs that sent people running from safe spot to safe spot.

Chifuyu failed to notice any of that. _Rain. Seems like it's always raining when I'm out here._ Moving ahead of Maya, she waved at her friend from under the umbrella. "Just stay here, I'll be back in a bit."

"Are you sure? At least take the umbrella while I wait at the station..." Maya drifted off at Chifuyu's shaking head.

"The rain is rather comfortable, and it'll help to keep my head clear. Besides, it suits my mood right now." Clenching down on the bouquet of flowers purchased only moments ago, Chifuyu headed through the walls at the gate.

The rain was steady, the sound of it muted even in this place. Taking a path her feet knew by heart, she quickly arrived at the spot she dreaded coming to, even knowing she would be coming here again. The stone was grey and rectangular with edges that were slightly worn from exposure to the elements. Set onto a small pedestal, the whole arrangement barely came up to her knees, but it still managed to dwarf Chifuyu somehow.

Taking in the stone's appearance, Chifuyu found herself crying, the tears running down her cheeks lost in the rain. Collapsing next to the pedestal, her hand almost grazed a dark spot that marred one corner as it came up to trace the words engraved on it:

Ichika Orimura  
Brother & Friend  
You will be missed

Resting her head on Ichika's gravestone, Chifuyu cried harder now, her wails of pain lost in the patter of the rain.

* * *

A/N: So I went ahead and did it, I killed off Ichika. Props to Akisa Akimune, Literate Wolf and Innconue. I figured I'd laid it on a tad too thick, but it seems to have been taken well.

The next chapter will probably be all flashback. I'm working on it now, but it will probably take me a while to get it right. As I said when I started, I had several scenes set up, but the next part wasn't one of them.

To anyone who's read the story and didn't review, shame on you. I can't really grow if you don't write something telling me how much you loved it or hated it. And if anyone feels a burning desire to flame me, by all means go ahead and PM me to do it. Flaming on a review is just so improper.


	3. Chapter 3 Updated!

Chapter 3  
Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hatred.  
Hatred leads to suffering.  
-Yoda

Chifuyu continued to cry, a moan escaping her. "Why, where did this all go wrong?" she demanded of the storm, the spirits in the graveyard, even any deities that might be listening to her now. Strangely enough, the answer came from her own mind...

—*—

It all really began with a phone call.

Chifuyu Orimura, hailed as Brunhilde and winner of the first Mondo Grosso, sat in the locker room watching a vicious IS battle. The semi-finals were almost over, waiting only on the outcome of the Russia and Brazil match to find out whom she would be fighting. Not that any country expected Chifuyu to lose. None of her current matches had lasted more than three minutes with all of them ending by shield knockout.

A trilling chime from her locker interrupted Chifuyu's concentration, begging for her attention. Standing up and reaching for the phone in her bag, Chifuyu's eyes never left the monitor showing the match. _10 minutes already? I'd have finished them both by now._ Tapping the phone on she raised it to her ear. "Hello? Chifuyu Orimura speaking."

**"Chifuyu-chan, thank goodness I finally got through to you."** A worried male voice came out of the speaker, the voice high with tension but recognizable all the same. **"There's something wrong here, and I think it involves Ichika-kun."**

Chifuyu's attention snapped away from the monitor, turning her back towards it as she focused in on the phone. "Gotanda-san, is that you? What's happened with my idiot brother now?"

**"Yes yes, it's me. I went over to your place to see if he wanted to come over and watch your match with us tomorrow, and I found the place ruined. Furniture is overturned, there's a window smashed. The police is here too and they wouldn't let me contact you."**

Her legs faltering, Chifuyu staggered back to the bench and collapsed. "What?" The answer she was looking for did not come from her phone but from a voice at the end of the row of lockers.

"Brunhilde Orimura, I need you to come with me."

Moving to follow, Chifuyu found herself being lead to a debriefing room normally used to critique a pilot's mistakes. _We always called this place the morgue, because it's where dead pilots were dissected. What the hell is going on?_

The doors opened revealing a group of men and women, with both military uniforms and casual clothes represented. One person facing the entrance looked up at the sound of the door. A deep, heavily accented voice broke out of the quiet chatter between people. "She's here."

"Hello Brunhilde Orimura, please come in. We have much to discuss and not a lot of time to discuss it with." The woman's voice was clear and strong, a tone of quiet power that pierced through Chifuyu's shock. Her appearance radiated a calming presence, the expensive business suit emphasizing her slender build. Hazel eyes filled with authority and compassion peered out from beneath the dark bangs of hair. "I'm Misato Nakano. I'm a detective with the National Police Agency, Criminal Investigation Branch."

"Tell me what has happened to my brother." Chifuyu's eyes blazed with worry as she continued, "and you can skip the formal bullshit and tell it to me straight."

Detective Nakano's head bobbed once in acknowledgement. "As you wish. Here is what we know. Approximately three days ago, your younger brother Ichika was abducted from the house you two live in. The evidence we found show possibly two men who came in and got him, but there might have been more. At this time, we do not know Ichika's current location, but we are using every resource possible to find him."

Chifuyu's knees buckled at the word 'abducted', dropping her to the ground on her knees. A uniformed police officer moved close to her prostrate form. "But why...? What possible reason could they have to kidnap Ichika, when I hold the Brunhilde title and all those endorsements?" Her eyes unfocused as her thoughts ran rampant through her mind. Snapping back into the moment, she glared at Detective Nakano. "Wait a fucking minute. You said 'three days ago'. You mean to tell me you've known about this for all that time and you couldn't be bothered to TELL ME THE FUCK ABOUT IT?!" Pushing herself up off the ground, Chifuyu screamed the entire last part directly into the detective's face.

Misato Nakano did not even flinch at having Chifuyu's face scant inches from her own, or to feel the hot rage boiling off the Brunhilde's skin. Everyone else in the room was cowering slightly, the booming roar of Chifuyu's voice in the small room nearly deafening. Misato took a small breath, trying to contain her own fear as she said sympathetically, "Brunhilde Orimura, please control yourself. You might well be considered the most dangerous person on the planet, but your skills right now will do nothing to help Ichika. I have a daughter myself, so I can relate to how you might be feeling. Letting your emotions rule you will not help the situation."

Raising her hands slowly to Chifuyu's shoulders, Detective Nakano guided the younger woman to an empty char at the table. "You do ask a valid question though. We didn't know it was an abduction until only this morning, when a video was delivered to the police station that covers your house. I do need to warn you, the imagery is...graphic."

The main monitor on the wall turned on, showing a simple white background with an artist's easel holding up a large board. Written upon the board were black block letters in English. "To the Japanese government."

The camera panned now, showing the white background still but now showing Ichika, tied up in a chair. There was lines of dried blood on his face from a cut above his right eye. His left eye was swollen shut and his lips were puffy and split. A form walked into frame now, wearing a grey uniform designed along military lines, including a grey hood covering their face. **"This is a message to the Japanese government. We have taken Ichika Orimura, brother of Chifuyu Orimura who holds the title of Brunhilde. If you wish to get his safe return, then Chifuyu Orimura will have to publically lose the current Mondo Grosso and surrender her IS as well as all of Japan's IS units. You have thirty-six hours from the delivery of this message to comply. If you refuse, then Ichika Orimura will pay the price. In a long, and extremely painful way. Even God will not be able to look up Ichika without being sick after we're done with him. The choice, of course, is yours."**

The video zoomed in now to a closer view of Ichika. **"Nee-san, please..."** Ichika started, only to break down into screams as a knife was jabbed into his leg. Chifuyu buried her face into her hands, trying to not watch what was happening, to prevent the screams from reaching her brain. His screams got louder as the knife was twisted slightly, opening the wound little by little. The knife was removed, and the figure stepped in front of Ichika. Soft meaty sounds can barely be heard over the screams, the figure's shoulders moving in time with each sound. Ichika's voice returned now, hoarse from the screams, **"Chifuyu-nee..."** as his head swung lower, apparently unconscious from the pain.

**"Remember, the clock is running. We hope you choose the appropriate answer, but it doesn't matter to us."**

The monitor clicked over to a blue screen signaling the end of the video. Chifuyu let her arms relax as she cried now, her sobs only partially muffled by her hands. Detective Nakano put one arm across Chifuyu's shoulders, trying hard not to cry as she watched a young woman break down.. Her eyes watery, Misato's voice was still calm and strong. "I could tell you it would be okay, Orimura-san, but right now I don't know that for sure. I will tell you that before being assigned to the NPA, I worked on several other cases like this. It gives me a great deal of experience on such matters, and I assure you, I WILL find your brother."

A man in a military uniform wearing general's stars reached into a pocket for a handkerchief and passed it over to Chifuyu. Wiping her face with the cloth, Chifuyu tried hard to stop the tears she felt, the pain of the moment threatening to overwhelm her tenuous control. "If they want to trade my title for Ichika," she started, her voice breaking apart midway through his name, "then they can damned well have it. I would rather lose my title than my brother."

General Aramaki nodded at Chifuyu's words, knowing he would have done the same for his own brother. "While I can sympathize with that statement, even condone it, they did ask for more than just your title. And we can't allow our nation to be weakened by surrendering our IS units to these bandits."

"You, you would let my brother die for your political power Aramaki-san?" Chifuyu's eyes blazed as she stabbed a finger in his direction. "I know full well that you're the military supervisor for the Japanese IS program. Comes with a lot of political clout doesn't it?"

Aramaki's gravelly voice was unchanged by Chifuyu's fiery accusation. "I did not say we would let your brother die. We are merely going to find an option that will let us retain our IS units."

"Yes, Orimura-san, we are not going to let your brother die." Detective Nakano said, her voice confident. "Because this case involves the IS units, we have every resource imaginable, both people and technology. Every police officer in the country has this case as their only priority. The normal rules about their conduct in finding information are suspended. If we find anyone who knows even the tiniest fact about this, they will talk or find their lives in an extremely uncomfortable place."

"And all military and intelligence assets we possess are pursuing leads as well." Aramaki added in, returning his handkerchief to his pocket. "The Emperor and the Prime Minister are being consulted at this time on the question of whether we can contact our allies about this incident. There is an opinion by our intelligence personnel that one of our allies might be responsible."

Detective Nakano's eyes narrowed slightly, her voice was strong. "General Aramaki, in cases like this it is not important to figure out who did this reprehensible act. Finding the victim is the first priority." General Aramaki frowned at the rebuke, but kept silent. Returning her focus back to Chifuyu, Nakano continued on. "Now Orimura-san, I need to ask you a few questions and then I will tell you what I know. First off, did the voice of the person on the video sound even the slightest bit familiar?"

Chifuyu shook her head, her long hair barely moving. "No, I've never heard that voice before."

One of the other detectives made some notes as Nakano continued. "Has there been any threats made against you recently? Something that might make you think the person was capable of this?"

"Just the usual bravado I expected from my competition. Lot of trash talk about how I was going to lose this time, how badly they were going to be beat me." Chifuyu's eyes unfocused for a moment, lost in thought.

Nakano saw the expression, her own eyes glittering in excitement. "You remember someone in particular?"

"Well...the contender from Cuba was really rather boastful about things. But I beat her in my first round match." Chifuyu smirked slightly. "She didn't even last a full minute. Otherwise there's not anyone who comes to mind. Certainly no one I figured would be capable of doing this."

Nakano nodded once at that information. "Usually such abductions are committed by a family member or close friend. But with your fame, it does expand the pool of suspects a bit. You are sure that there's no one in your immediate contact who might be involved?"

Closing her eyes a moment to concentrate, Chifuyu's face went slack. "Sure? Hell if I know. Up until today I'd trusted everyone in my immediate circle of friends. Now I can't be sure of anything."

"A fair response." Detective Nakano motioned to one of the plainclothes officers in the room. "Brief Orimura-san quickly on what we know."

"Ma'am." Turning to face Chifuyu now, the long haired officer spoke in a quiet voice. "From our examinations of the video, we know a little about the kidnapper. It's a male, probably in his mid twenties to early thirties. As you saw, the message was in English, but the words sounded off which lead us to believe the person is not American or English. The clothes shown are military minded, but not part of any known military in the world. We are looking at terrorist groups and criminal organizations, but so far none of the ones examined use that grey motif."

Chifuyu's eyes grew watery again. "That's it? They give us a deadline for 36 hours and you assholes are just LOOKING at organizations?"

"We are also processing your house, checking for forensic evidence that might lead us to your brother." The officer's professional mask dropped now, his voice growing softer. "Unfortunately, it will take time."

"Just great! While you're busy sitting there looking at groups and searching for leads, my little brother is busy getting tortured!" Chifuyu pushed herself up from her chair, leaning hard on the table for support.

Detective Nakano started to move towards Chifuyu. "Orimura-san, please understand the situation. These people show themselves to be very professional and thorough. They won't just sit there and torture Ichikia for no good reason. Most of his injuries probably happened when they first abducted him, aside from the one injury on the video. Professional kidnappers don't just torture their hostages, they know the hostage is what gets them their reward. They also know that people won't pay for hostages who are dead or severely injured. The knife was inserted into a non-vital location, not deep enough to hit any major vessels." Pausing a moment to catch her breath, Misato's control slipped just a little. "Yes it was painful, but that was all. Likely when we get to him we will find that they had treated the wound after the filming."

"Well that's just fucking perfect! He gets tortured, but they're going to patch him up afterwards." Pushing away from the table, Chifuyu starts to move towards the door. "I can't stay here while you assholes are sitting around doing nothing productive. If you come up with something useful, let me know."

A uniformed police officer reached out and grabbed Chifuyu's shoulder before she could open the door. Chifuyu reacted instantly, shrugging off the hand with a quick roll of her shoulder. Before the officer could recover, she snatched at the wrist and pulled him in close. Her left hand held the wrist as her foot swept out his legs. The officer collapsed, his trapped arm held solidly in her iron grasp as he tried to use his free arm to arrest his fall.

Chifuyu did not stop there, as she brought her foot around from the sweep and kicked him in the face twice, one shot to his nose and the other a dazing blow to his forehead. Her left hand still gripping the officer's arm, her right arm came down hard on his arm. The sound of bones breaking was clearly audible in the room, followed almost instantly by the officer's scream agony.

Pushing hard against the broken arm, Chifuyu pressed the officer's broken nose into the ground. Looking up a moment from under her eyebrows, Chifuyu glared at everyone in the room one last time. Seeing no one else moving to stop her, she stormed out of the room, the door slamming shut with a strong finality.

A military officer moved to help the downed police officer, working to roll him over onto his back. Detective Nakano looked in dismay at the injured person lying on the floor. "Patrolman, you were warned that Orimura-san was an extremely dangerous person and shouldn't be touched when she was angry. Perhaps now you'll listen to orders in the future." Shifting her gaze to the closed door, her dismay melted into a frown. "Just like my daughter..."

—*—

Chifuyu's rage cooled slightly as she stalked the hallways, the images in her mind getting increasingly worse with each step she took. A few people walking by took notice of her, but the look on her face kept anyone from approaching her. Several folks glanced once at Chifuyu's face and moved out of her way.

Finding her way back to the locker room, Chifuyu felt her anger burning hot in her chest. Clipping her shoulder on the bank of lockers, Chifuyu found a momentary focus for her rage, pounding her fists into the metal. The metal squealed and clanged, protesting the abuse while warping under each blow.

Breathing hard from the exertion, Chifuyu leaned forward, resting her head on the frame. The pain in her hands echoing the pain in her heart as Ichika's face passes before her eyes again. Moaning to herself, Chifuyu lets herself collapse to the floor.

"Who's making all that racket in here?" Chifuyu's eyes snap open as a male voice calls out, wondering which room she had walked into. "What the hell is going on...huh?"

The owner of the voice peers around a far bank of lockers, his eyes instantly locking on to Chifuyu's form on the floor. "Miss, are you okay?"

Not trusting her voice, Chifuyu shook her head once. Tears started to stream down her cheeks again as she glanced down at her hands again.

"Oh come on, the competition is almost over. If you lost, there's always the next one. Just work harder and you can place better next time." Walking around the lockers, the man pulled a cart laden with mops, bags and various cleaning supplies.

Chifuyu looked up at the janitor now, her eyes watery behind her dark bangs. "The competition? You think I'm upset about the Mondo Grosso?"

The janitor sat down on the bench, his grey eyebrows knit together. "I'm sorry, I seem to have misunderstood your situation. Maybe you could explain it for me?"

In between gasping sobs, Chifuyu recounted everything she had just learned, trying not break down again. The janitor's eyes went wide with the first part, then hardened as the story progressed. By the time she completed her story, he appeared to nearly be in tears himself. After a moment's pause, the janitor frowned at Chifuyu. "Miss, I might be out of line here, but I think you're going about this wrong."

Chifuyu found herself shocked into silence at the statement. Turning her head to look full on at the janitor, her voice barely reached him. "What?"

"Well, it seems to me that right now you're letting your fear and anger control you." The janitor's eyes drifted down to Chifuyu's hands, noting how the knuckles were split and bleeding. A thin trail of blood could be seen from the tightly gripped fists, the drops falling onto her thighs. "What you're feeling is the right thing given the circumstances, but you can't let it control you. Anger has it's place in situations, but if you're not using it correctly then nothing good will come from it."

"Nothing good can come from anger." Chifuyu countered, her eyes measuring up the distances between him and her.

The janitor smiled softly, trying not to patronize. "Actually, a lot of good can come from anger. Folks who were angry about things have overthrown governments, wronged injustices. Angry people have changed the world more times than people who were happy. The fact that you're angry isn't a bad thing. Just don't let it control you. Use it."

Chifuyu's eyes unfocused as the message started to sink in. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and continued to breathe with controlled measures. _Breathe in, hold it for five, out over five. I haven't done this since my time training in Shinonono-sama's dojo. Shinonono-sama would probably have said the same thing, too._ Opening her eyes, Chifuyu bowed her head towards the janitor. "I need to apologize to you, janitor-san. I've damaged the lockers in my rage, and I was rude to you."

The janitor waved off her apology. "There's nothing to apologize about. You're under a lot of stress right now, and cleaning up things is part of my job. Just don't go making a bigger mess, please." He grinned now, a wry smile that fit his weathered face. "And the name's Boothby."

Chifuyu's face broke into a pale imitation of Boothby's grin. "Well, thank you Boothby-san. You have given me an invaluable piece of help just now."

Boothby's grin expanded into a full smile, his eyes sparkling. "All part of my job. Besides, it hurts me to see a beautiful woman like you in pain."

A blush spread across Chifuyu's cheeks at the compliment. "I've heard that from a lot of guys, Boothby-san, but most of them seem nothing more than to want me to get into bed. Yours is the first time I actually believe it."

A quick nod of his greyed head accepted the statement as Chifuyu continued, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to put my anger to use and get to work." Boothby waved as she reached back into her locker, grabbing for her cellphone. Scrolling through the contact list, Chifuyu's eyes hardened as the right one became highlighted. _I hope this number is still good._

—*—

Halfway around the world, a phone started to ring. A woman in a sensible business suit looked up from the work on her desk to stare at the phone. Picking up the receiver, she cradled it comfortably on one shoulder. "One one seven nine."

**"This is Chifuyu Orimura. I need to speak with Oberst Bock,"** the handset said in her ear. **"It's urgent."**

The secretary paused in her work now, staring blankly at the far wall. "One moment," she said, pushing the Hold button while activating a second line.

An overworked man in a wrinkled uniform picked up the phone when his intercom button lit up. His voice was gruff from having his important workday disturbed, "Yes, what is it?"

**"Sir, I have a person identifying herself as Chifuyu Orimura asking for you, claiming it's urgent. Line three."**

"Very well, thank you." Clicking off the intercom, he punched buttons and answered the blinking phone line. "This is Bock."

A woman's voice came out of the receiver, one that sounded vaguely familiar. It spoke in English, with a hint of an non-English accent. **"Oberst Bock, this is Chifuyu Orimura. I'm not sure if you remember, but we met two years ago."**

Bock let his eyes close as he tilted his head forward, wisps of black hair falling forward. The eyes winced shut in concentration a moment. "Orimura...Orimura...yes I remember. If you're going to tell me you're raising my child, I will only say as much as to give you my lawyer's number and direct you to talk to him."

A quick bark of laughter came out of the phone, leaving Bock to wonder if the phone had disconnected. **"Still the raging womanizer, Bock? I would have thought you'd learned better by now."** The voice turned wry as it continued on. **"Besides, you weren't that good. I doubt any woman could get pregnant from a technique like yours."**

Bock's eyes opened now, outrage coloring his face a deep shade of red. Bringing up a search engine on his computer, Bock typed in the name of the person calling him. "Maybe I am mistaken. So what was the purpose of this call, Chifuyu?" Opening the file that was provided by the computer, recognition instantly flooded his brain.

Chifuyu's voice turned harder now, all playfulness lost. **"The Bock I knew used to be really friendly with a lot of intelligence types, folks who know things or can find other things out in a real hurry. I also recall the last time we talked, you made an offer to me about my working with your government."** Her voice was almost bereft of any emotion now. **"So what I'm going to do is make you a very limited time offer. My younger brother was kidnaped two or three days ago from our house. The Japanese government is claiming to do what it can, but there's a deadline on what the kidnapers want and I don't think they can pull it off before time's up. If you can get me the info on where Ichika is, I, Chifuyu Orimura, will come train the German IS program for a period of one year."**

His face blanking out from the shock of the statements, Bock let his mind start to race at the implications of her offer. "Let me make some calls. I'll get back to you in two hours." Hanging up the phone, Bock switched to his intercom. "Get me Falman over at Intelligence. Push as hard as you have to."

Reaching into the left drawer, Bock pulled out a beat up cigarette lighter. Snapping it open, he stared into the flame as he waited on his secretary to do her job. The flame danced and flickered a minute, the glow reflected in his eyes. "Chifuyu Orimura...well, I hope I can help you. Your offer would get me the general's stars I've been looking for."

—*—

Chifuyu's snatched at the cell phone the instant it started to chime. Before the first ring had finished, she had thumbed it on and had it under her hair by her ear. "Hello, Chifuyu Orimura here."

**"Oberst Bock here. Sorry it took a little longer than I thought it would."**

Chifuyu heard the irritation in Bock's voice and idly wondered what the delay had been.

**"But I think I have it. You are a person of interest to us, so we keep monitor you and your brother. It's nothing personal, just business."**

"Yeah yeah, just get on with it." Chifuyu's hand came up and made a roll it along motion, forgetting Bock could not see her hands.

**"Intel reported to me that they had some intercepts that didn't mean anything to them until I brought up your brother's abduction. Looking at the intercepts, they were taking him probably to an 'abandoned' oceanographic station in the South Pacific ocean. Given the flight speed of your IS, you could get there in fourteen hours or so."**

Chifuyu slammed her locker shut and dashed for the doorway. "Did you get the exact coordinates?"

**"Naturally. There's a couple other things you need to know. First off, the station isn't as abandoned as people think. It's mostly a way station for pirate activities and other black marketers."**

A long pause, the sound of static on the international call the only thing keeping Chifuyu from pocketing the phone.

**"The other thing is that Intel put a team together. They'll hit the site hard before you can get there. Turns out the place is hosting a few people on our 'better off dead' list."**

Chifuyu stopped mid-stride down the hallway. "What about hostages? Will they rescue anyone they find?"

Bock's voice carried the frown on his face clearly. **"It'll be up to the mission commander. They might just leave hostages there. I'm not in that chain of command, so I don't know what orders the team was given. The best I can say is maybe."**

The hand not holding the phone balled up and struck the wall, breaking through the drywall and sinking her arm down to the wrist. Chifuyu closed her eyes a moment and opened them suddenly. "Okay, I've got an idea. I'll fly out there immediately and meet up with the team, go in with them on the hit. Can you get a message to the team and let them know that I'm coming and to expect me? I'd hate to get shot at by the good guys. Just have them consider me a heavy assault package."

"I think I can do that. But you'll have to move fast because the team won't delay their mission for you to catch up. If you're late, they'll go without you."

Verifying the coordinates from Bock, Chifuyu hung up and dropped her phone, letting it clatter to the ground. Resuming a full sprint, the hallways seemed to flash by in front of her eyes, growing brighter as she heads towards the IS prep bays. Two uniformed security guards were at the entrance, one sitting down working on a puzzle, the other holding a cup of coffee. Looking up from his crossword puzzle at the sound of a person running the guard saw Chifuyu barreling down on them. "Hey, stop!"

Chifuyu did not break her stride, giving the standing guard a stiff arm block worthy of a professional running back. His cup of coffee splashed on the sitting guard's face, temporarily blinding him. The guard's weight slowed her down momentarily, but she vaulted his collapsing form easily and hit the door smoothly.

The opening door brought with it new sensations, the clank of tools on metal, the smell of spilled chemicals. Chifuyu kept her mind focused as she ran to the bay holding her own Kurazakura. The silvery-white metal form sat there, a warhorse sleeping until called for by it's master. Barely noticing all the cables attached to it, Chifuyu grabbed onto the waist assembly and started climbing into the cockpit. Broaching the top, a practiced spin dropped her feet into the pedestals. As Chifuyu's hands slid down into the sleeves of the mecha, the power-up sequence initialized and her heads-up display kicked on.

***Kurazakura online. Chifuyu Orimura recognized. Yukihira Nigata on standby. Life support good. Absolute Barrier on standby. Shield energy: 112.***

Feeling the pressure collars tightening on her exposed skin, Chifuyu started pulling off the power and support cables. When the last of the cables was removed, Chifuyu engaged the Passive Inertial Canceller and floated up a foot off the ground. Maneuvering through the bay, she banked into the launch chamber.

Settling down onto the catapult, Chifuyu transmitted a radio code to the control computer. The catapult did not kick and she found herself remaining stationary. Transmitting the code a second time, Chifuyu again got no response. A message popped up on her HUD. ***Launch code invalid. Launch system is locked down.***

"Great, just great." Flying away from the catapult, Chifuyu pulled out her Yukihira Nigata and powered it up. The blue beam gave a tinge to the entire room's chamber as she then slammed it into the launch doors, cutting cleanly and easily. A deft flick of her metal-shod wrists and Chifuyu cut a hole through the door, the edges white hot. Returning the blade to it's storage spot with her right hand, Chifuyu put her left and applied her thrusters hard. The metal squealed for only a heartbeat before the cut metal parted and she found herself in the arena.

**"Contestant Orimura, what are you doing? Stop your activities at once or you will be disqualified!" **An indignant voice bellowed at her from her radio, but Chifuyu could only smile.

"Bring down the arena barrier and let me out. I've got more important things than to deal with you."

**"We will not bring down the barrier. You will return your IS to the prep bay NOW."**

Chifuyu's smile grew now, feeling good as she cut off her radio on the self important bureacrat. Drawing the Yukihira nigata a second time, she powered it up and engaged her thrusters, pushing the IS to it's limits in a near ballistic climb. A single strike of her nigata brought her through the shield and she was into open, the arena and the world falling away beneath her.

Plotting the coordinates Bock had given her, Chifuyu set her and engaged the thrusters at maximum power. Looking at her HUD, Chifuyu found only reasons to frown hard. ***Flight time: 14:51. Shield energy: 32.***

Thinking about her capablities, Chifuyu accessed the computer. "Is there a way to get to the coordinates faster?" A new flight path appeared on her HUD, indicating a low orbit insertion profile. "Can we do that?"

***Negative. Power supplies insufficient for LOI profile.***

Sighing at the situation she was in, Chifuyu turned on her radio again, changing the frequency to one she knew from memory. "I just hope she still uses this one." Hearing a momentary squelch of static as the radio jumped to the right setting. "Chifuyu calling Tabane. Chifuyu to Tabane. You there Tabane?"

A whimsical voice came back almost immediately. **"Hey hey, this is Tabane Shinonono the world's greatest super genius..."**

Chifuyu's rage found a new vent at the sound on the radio. "Great, just fucking GREAT. Tabane, if you're screening me I will fucking find you and make sure you spend a long time begging for death goddamnit!"

The laughter on the channel came back instantly. **"No Chi-chan, I wasn't screening. I was just trying out my new greeting. It's not too pretentious is it?"**

"Maybe just a little. Listen Tabane, I'm in trouble and need your help."

Most of Tabane's playfulness dropped out of her voice. **"Chi-chan, I will do whatever I can to help you. You know that."**

Chifuyu bobbed her head once, trying to keep her mind focused as she talks with her old friend. "Okay, here's what's going on. Ichika has been kidnapped, and I've got a location on him. I need to get there fast. Last time we talked, you were mentioning working on a teleport system to let you send IS's to their pilots. Is that system working right now?"

Tabane's voice was distraught as she came back on the radio. **"Ik-kun's been kidnaped? When did this happen, why didn't I get any word of it until now...?"**

"TABANE FOCUS," Chifuyu bellowed, trying not to get too upset with her friend. "The teleport system. Did you get it working?"

**"Teleport system, right. I do have a working system now."**

Chifuyu breathed a quiet prayer before going with her next question. "Can we use that system to teleport me to the coordinates where Ichika is?"

The long pause on the radio told Chifuyu everything before Tabane came back. **"It's not designed for that. I did try to expand the system to allow for living beings to be teleported, but...all the lab rats I've tried in it haven't lived very long. Fortunately."**

"Damn," Chifuyu closed her eyes a minute, feeling the wind whip her hair as she tried to come up with a new idea. "Well, what about this. I could get there faster if I could do a low orbit flight path, but my Kurazakura is low on power. Can you lock onto my IS and teleport it out, recharge it and return it to me?"

**"Sure I can Chi-chan. I just use your radio signal to provide the targeting coordinates. But...I show you flying at a bit over thirty thousand feet right now. Hmm...I guess I can loan you an IS to let you keep heading towards him. The question will be whether or not the system can account for a person in movement when we lose the targeting signal. It should work, I guess."**

"Okay then, let's do it." Chifuyu took a few rapid breaths, pushing more oxygen into her blood. Breaking from her level flight, she pushed Kurazakura into a vertical climb, the thrusters whining at the new angle. Keeping up the rapid breaths, Chifuyu keyed the transmitter again. "Go on my mark. Five, four, three, two, one...MARK!"

As the last word left her lips, Chifuyu closed her mouth and held her breath. Her skin tingled a moment, feeling lighter as her IS disappeared from around her. Suddenly bereft of the IS's protective fields, the intense cold bit into her exposed skin with the ferocity of a savage animal. Chifuyu felt her upward momentum slow as gravity decided it was in control over her again. Coming to a pause in midair, Chifuyu's stomach did turns inside her as she floated for just an instant before gravity pulled her back down to the surface, so very far below her.

_Come on Tabane, don't mess this up. _Starting her downward plummet back through the clouds, the next thought Chifuyu had was a little more practical. _Maybe relying on Tabane wasn't the best idea in the world._ A new tingle crossed her skin again, stronger this time; more of a lover's firm caress rather than the first grazing touch. New metal limbs encased her own, the white armor gleaming in the sunlight. A helmet appeared over her eyes, providing a familiar old HUD and sealing off the sound of air across her ears. The cold snapped off instantly, the IS's protective fields bringing it back to a comfortable temperature.

***Shirokishi online. Welcome Chifuyu Orimura. Life support online. Power supply at maximum. Shields energy: 600. Weapons: Standby.***

The radio in her ears crackled for just a moment. **"Sorry Chi-chan, took me a moment longer to account for your velocity."**

Chifuyu felt her lips break into a grin in spite of the situation. "Same old Tabane. I see you've been putting in some upgrades here."

**"Naturally. I'm uploading the flight profile for your orbital trajectory now." **Tabane's voice dropped the playfulness now, the radio crystal clear. **"Chifuyu, I need to ask a favor of you in return for taking care of your Kurazakura."**

"Ask away. I get the feeling I owe you a lot anyway." Pushing the engines as she broke through the clouds again, Chifuyu locked onto the HUD display of her course.

**"I need you to make sure you get Ik-kun back." **Tabane's voice dropped to a glacially cold tone. **"And if they have hurt Ik-kun, I want you to bring them to me. I can always use some expendable subjects for my tests."**

Chifuyu envisioned Tabane's face based purely on the sound her voice. _She's really worked up about this. _"You've got it Tabane. On both things."

Redirecting all the spare power she could to the engines, the sudden burst of speed pushed Chifuyu through the skies and out past the boundary of the world.

* * *

A/N: Happy Memorial Day to my readers! But seriously, here's the next chapter. Getting a tad tense isn't it? Already working on the next chapter, probably a couple weeks to get it polished and ready.

Couple of folks have PM'd me asking about the quotes. Mostly they're responsible for keeping my focus on the way the chapter is supposed to go. Hopefully they are doing the same things for all of you. And yes, I'm geek enough to use a Star Wars quote. But it fit REALLY well I think.

As always, read and review!

A/N 2: Was doing the next chapter, had to split it up. On the plus side, we're at 10k words so far.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I made a massive expansion to chapter 3, but because of oddities with the publishing system, it did not report it as an update. If you have not read chapter 3, STOP RIGHT NOW AND HIT THE PREVIOUS BUTTON. It will make more sense when you do that.

* * *

Chapter 4  
Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.  
-Benjamin Franklin

Stretching out as she was lead down the narrow shipway, Chifuyu tried not to feel too out of place. The ill-fitting khaki uniform was part of her unease, but a lot of it came from the tight confines of the submarine's corridors. Trying not to let her discomfort show too much, she followed her guide through a hatchway into the bridge.

"Commander Riley, ma'am." Sliding to the side, the ensign who had been guiding her let Chifuyu pass without trying to press up against her. Chifuyu, for her part, worked to avoid him as well, but she could not help but notice his eyes tracking her body as she came in close.

Commander Riley looked up from his clipboard briefly before signing off on the report and passing it back to the enlisted man holding at attention. "That will be all, dismissed." Turning his full attention to Chifuyu, the weathered face and eyes shifted in his seat. "Chifuyu Orimura. I must say, your presence here is a bit offsetting and enjoyable. I got to see some of your matches at the last Mondo Grosso in person. Left me with some enjoyable memories."

Chifuyu smiled lightly, a practiced action she'd learned to deal with her fans. "Well, I hope we can give you some more enjoyable memories this time. I do need to thank you for the loan of the clothes, and the place to sleep. That couple of hours really helped."

"Well, we had the time to spare until we reached our destination so it seemed prudent. As for the clothes, that was only sensible. I've got an all male crew onboard, and your IS suit is...revealing. Might serve to distract them and we can't have that on this operation." Beckoning her on, he climbed out of his seat and started to head back. "COB you have the conn."

Passing through the hatchway, Commander Riley walked slowly leading Chifuyu through his ship. "Never done any work with an IS before. It is a bit of a novel concept. But you surprised everyone when you started knocking on the hull at five hundred meters down. And the story you gave us, well, it defies most logic. But I have my orders, and that settles it for me."

"Hope I didn't damage anything. I did try to be gentle."

Waving her apology off without looking back, Commander Riley stood aside to let some enlisted men carrying equipment pass. "Won't know for sure til we do a proper inspection in the dock, but I doubt it. It would have set off alarms to have a breach. Probably no more than hitting any medium sized piece of flotsam."

Opening up a hatch, Riley lead her into an oversized room lined with big metal tubes. Trying not to shudder as she walked into the missile room, Chifuyu followed him, working the hatch closed as she went through it. There was the sound of people running on the deck, barely covering the metallic slaps of guns being stripped and cleaned. Escorting Chifuyu down a narrow flight of stairs, Riley lead her to a temporary table set into one corner with two men looking down at maps. "Chifuyu Orimura, this is Majors von Eich and Tomlinson."

Shaking hands with both men, Chifuyu took a quick appraisal of both. Von Eich had the short stocky build of a fireplug, with barrel chest and thick legs. His pale green eyes seemed to look everywhere along her body, but never her face. Tomlinson was tall and lean, a long distance greyhound. His dark skin suggested an Aboriginal ancestry, his beard masking the grin that covered his face. "Welcome Ms. Orimura. We were told you would be coming, but we didn't expect you to get her until after we had already gone out."

"Yeah, turns out my IS is a bit faster than people give me credit for. Managed to get here a bit ahead of schedule. So what's the story about this place?" Chifuyu asked, running her eyes over the map on the table.

Major Tomlinson handled the briefing. "It's a little volcanic island, all of eighteen square kilometers of real estate. Easiest way to describe it is as Saipan's little brother. Not much to speak of. Some warehouses here, a desalination plant that provides water and power to the island here. There's this port facility and a crude airport here. Good enough for it's purposes I suppose, but when you lose the element of stealth it's just a bit target to be hit."

Chifuyu glanced up to look at the faces of the two officers. "Where do you think they'd be holding my brother?"

Von Eich frowned as he answered. "We don't have that particular info. Intel only told us that there was people here we really wanted dealt with. It wasn't until we were in transit that we got word about your brother being there." Tapping his finger on the map on some spots, his light eyes hardened. "But if I was running it I would have kept him in a warehouse, away from a residential area. Makes it easier to secure it, and some of the people, " von Eich's voice spat the word out, "are likely to consider any prisoners to be a toy to play with."

"Yes, I'd do it the same way." Tomlinson's words were punctuated with a curt nod. "The biggest issue is that there are these weapon emplacements, plus a couple of nasty SAM sites. We don't know if they're going to be manned, but I would feel safe in assuming it. This site here is almost certainly a radar they're using for naval monitoring plus air traffic control. I don't know enough about your IS, Ms. Orimura, but I would think they will see it on radar."

Chifuyu's frown joined the men's. "Never really thought about it, since the IS sensors work differently. It probably will be seen on radar, but I don't know that it would be seen as an aircraft. I could try coming in underwater, but I wouldn't recommend it. While you can use an IS underwater, it really eats into the power supplies."

Both men nodded at this little tidbit of information dropped into their laps. "Okay then, we plan to insert our teams by zodiac boats at this beach here, then move on to the residential area. We break down into our assault elements and hit the buildings hard. Intel suggests the people we're most interested in are in this building, but overall, closing down this island to business is the goal."

Looking hard at the map, an idea started to form in Chifuyu's mind. "Looking at the maps, I think there's a blind spot in their SAM coverage if I come in along this line here. I can use the buildings as a screen and get in close enough to do the SAM sites."

Von Eich measured out the approach with his eyes. "It should be doable," he hedged, "but if you make any mistake they'll be able to fire at you. Do you know if your IS can take a hit from a SAM?"

Chifuyu closed her eyes for a moment, pondering the question. "I don't know. IS weapons are roughly equal to an army's squad weapons. SAMs are a bit bigger than that. It might come apart from a big hit like that or it might just knock down my shield hard." Her brown eyes opened and hardened. "But he's my brother, damnit. I don't care about my IS as long as I get him out safe."

Major Tomlinson broke into a wry smile at her words. "Ms. Orimura, we will do what we can to get him out. The first few people we come across will be taken alive if possible and pumped for information. Any news about his whereabouts will be relayed to you. And every member of both teams has a copy of his picture to help verify his identity."

Chifuyu smiled lightly at his words. Turning to face both officers now, she snapped into a crisp military salute. "Major von Eich, Major Tomlinson, I can't thank you enough for letting me participate. I know you didn't have to and you're still willing to let me in."

Both men hesitated only a moment before returning the salute. Major von Eich broke the silence first, "Even if we weren't under orders to have you come along, I doubt we could have prevented you from involving yourself. It simplifies things by working with you than having you compete against us."

Major Tomlinson nodded at his companion's sentiments. "I consider my own troopers family, and I know I wouldn't hesitate to do anything similar for them if they were in trouble."

The deck shifted slightly, gaining the tiniest of angles from a flat surface. A small marker on the map rolled off the top of the table, falling to the deck. Tomlinson saw the marker fall, but did not bend over to pick it up. "We're going up." Turning to face the soldiers working around the missile hold, he raised his voice. "Sargeant Major, get them ready! I want to be off the sub fast and clean!"

A loud, mean voice picked up the cry, and soon everyone was screaming to prepare. Weapons were readied and cases slammed shut, their locks engaging again. Seeing organized chaos he created going smoothly, Tomlinson turned back to Chifuyu. "Ma'am, can we get you into your IS? We did park it in the way of our assault boats, so it will have to get moved out first."

"Roger that major." Heading over to her IS, Chifuyu started unbuttoning the uniform blouse as she walked. Stopping at her Kurazakura, wedged in the bulk loading hatch, Chifuyu stripped off the remainder of the uniform. A slight chill crossed her newly exposed skin, raising goosebumps on all the exposed flesh. Handing off the clothes to Major Tomlinson, Chifuyu noticed him trying hard not to stare at her IS suit. "I won't bite, Major. You can look if you want."

Tomlinson averted his face a bit harder, trying to grab onto the clothes without staring at Chifuyu. "You might not bite, Ms. Orimura, but my wife sure as hell will when I tell her about ogling a younger woman in a revealing outfit."

Laughing at the comment, Chifuyu broke into a real smile. "Guess it's too late to ask, but what unit are you with?"

A small professional grin, wolfish and vicious broke his face now. "I'm Major Paul Tomlinson, 4th squadron, Australian Special Air Service Regiment."

Chifuyu paused a moment in her power-up sequence as she caught his unit designation. "SAS? Odd thing to be working with the Germans isn't it?"

"Sure, but when you care the very best to make sure it's positively done right, you send the SAS. My unit draws the really odd jobs, even in our line of work." Folding the uniform deftly, Tomlinson looked over at the woman now settled comfortably on her warhorse. "It will take our boats approximately forty minutes to make the approach to the island. Your IS can do it in what, four minutes?"

Nodding at the professional talk, Chifuyu flexed her hands in the gloves, testing the connection. Watching the IS hands mimic her motion smooth as if they were her own hands, Chifuyu thought about the distance to cover. "If I go top speed, figure two minutes. Making a slow covert approach like this? Probably ten to twelve. But to be frank, I'll be going in hot."

"Okay, so we'll call it two minutes. My radio callsign is Hammer, von Eich's is Jager. I think for this, your call sign will be Valkyrie. When we start our attack I'll signal you and you can deploy and go after the SAM sites. When we get word of your brother, we'll relay that and I'll try to have a couple of fire teams, including a medic, free to assist you."

Any further conversation was cancelled by the speakers on the wall. **"Now hear this, now hear this. All crew standby to surface. Deck detail to the midline hatch. SAS teams standby for deployment. Surfacing the ship in sixty seconds."**

Reaching up to Chifuyu, Major Tomlinson grabbed her hand in a solid warrior's grip, his arm bent at the elbow. "Good luck, Chifuyu Orimua."

Trying not to put any pressure on his hand, Chifuyu held the grip firmly as she looked down into his eyes. "Good hunting, Paul Tomlinson."

Breaking the grip, Major Tomlinson moved off into the missile bay, disappearing from sight by the troops lining up in formation. Chifuyu watched in appreciation as the troopers did their final checks for a moment before she heard a heavy clank above her. Glancing up, she watched the hatch start to open, guided by a pair of sailors wearing life jackets. Engaging her PIC, she carefully pulled herself up and out of the hatch into the open air. A quick burst from her thrusters jetted her a comfortable distance from the deck, the waves of the ocean lapping at her metal feet. The sailors disappeared into the hatch she just vacated, and within two minutes the boats were being assembled on the flat deck.

As the boats were being inflated, troopers started climbing out onto the deck with practiced easy motions. By the time the last trooper cleared the hatchway, the sixth boat was inflated and ready. Each group climbed into their assigned boat and pushed off, the motors turning over on the first try. As the zodiacs picked up speed, the submarine already had it's deck awash with water, moving back to the safety of the depths.

Checking her IS's clock, Chifuyu found the entire unloading had taken only ten minutes. Setting her IS into a tight float and letting the computer maintain her hover, she tried to relax as best she could. _Stay strong Ichika-kun. Nee-san is coming to kick ass soon._

—*—

**"Hammer to Valkyrie, you are free to deploy."** The radio crackled with static, interrupting Chifuyu's reverie.

"Valkyrie to Hammer, acknowledged. Fast moving and incoming." Kicking her Kurazakura up to full speed, the sudden burst pushed Chifuyu up fifty feet before she brought it back down to a sea skimming altitude. Banking hard onto the course provided, Chifuyu trailed one hand down to graze the water, noting the white caps created by her passing.

As soon as the island became a blob on her horizon, Chifuyu set her sensors to maximum. "Come on, where are those guns?"

***Missile radar detected bearing 310. Lock-on threshold in 90 seconds.***

A helpful arrow flashed on Chifuyu's HUD, blinking for her priority. Drawing her Yukihira Nigata from it's storage compartment, Chifuyu held it firmly in a two handed grip, the blade extending out across her right hip. Banking hard to the left, the arrow on her HUD now floated directly ahead of her. "Valkyrie to Hammer, enaging SAM one."

A missile screamed out of the launcher five hundred meters ahead as Chifuyu crossed over the beach. Reacting instantly with reflexes honed from past battles, Chifuyu flipped her IS into a tight barrel roll, dragging one foot hard enough to kick the missile before the safety device disengaged. Her foot landed on the missile in the front third, changing the missile's trajectory from a level surface to a downward angle. The missile slammed into the ground and detonated instantly, but Chifuyu did not notice that. She was already closing in on the launcher, her blade ignited now for it's full killing power. Not even slowing down, she passed by the SAM, a quick adjustment of her hands slashing the blade through the launch cells. The solid fuel rockets started to burn instantly, but it was not until Chifuyu was one hundred meters away that the fire hit the warheads. The explosion barely registered to Chifuyu as she banked again, moving on to the second site.

"Valkyrie to Hammer, SAM one destroyed."

The radio popped and crackled back. **"Acknowledged Valkyrie."** A burst of gunfire came through the radio, the sounds seemingly close to him. **"Valkyrie, be advised we have found your package."**

Repeating back the coordinates to confirm them, Chifuyu felt the tension drain from her shoulders. _Ichika!_ Climbing into a turn, Chifuyu set her course towards her brother. Kurazakura responded at once, mimicking her desire to save Ichika with additional speed.

—*—

Finding the warehouse indicated with the coordinates, Chifuyu floated for just a moment above the building where Ichika was being held. Toggling Kurazakura's sensors through multiple settings and modes, Chifuyu checked the building as thoroughly as her impatience would allow. _Magnetic imaging shows a simple layout. Heat sources indicate three people external, four more inside and another person slightly separate. That's probably Ichika-kun._ Switching on her radio to a burst of static, Chifuyu checked the frequency again. "Valkyrie to Hammer, how close is your support?"

The news that came back was not promising. **"Valkyrie, I have one team closing on your location, four mikes out. It's all I could spare."**

Nodding her head slightly at the bad news, Chifuyu inverted her IS. "Acknowledged. I'm picking up my package now, could use the help cleaning up when you can."

Igniting her thrusters to maximum, Chifuyu dived fast at the closest heat sources; a hawk striking down at speeds in excess of three hundred miles per hour. Lacking any whistle to announce her presence, the sentries were easy prey for her. Breaking at the last instant before impacting the ground, Chifuyu practically materialized near the trio of guards. The first one was dealt with by a brutal axe-swing of her Yukihira Nigata, the unpowered metal blade crushing the guard's collarbone and driving him to the ground. Spinning on her thrusters, the second guard fell to a horizontal slash to his head, while the third got a kick from her metal foot. The force of the kick threw the guard into the next warehouse, but the building did not stop his impact as he went through the thin steel wall with a shriek of tearing metal.

_That was easy enough._ Even as those words went through Chifuyu's mind, bullets started to impact Kurazakura from the rear to the accompaniment of gunfire. The shields deployed instantly, preventing any penetration as she turned to face her new attackers. Chifuyu did not have time to finish the turn before an explosion went off behind her, knocking her IS forward.

Rolling with the force of the explosion, Chifuyu braced hard on her left leg as a second and a third immediately rocked her. Each explosion ate chunks out of her shields, but Chifuyu was not going to let that stop her from getting to Ichika. Kurazakura flashed a secondary image on her HUD, showing a military grenade launcher with rotary drum. Kicking her thrusters into a full power ascent, the next explosion went off well beneath her feet.

Keeping the climb for only a scant pair of seconds, Chifuyu rolled and positioned her main thrusters to the sky, giving her a fast drop onto the group of four. Targeting the grenadier first, she dived on him at full speed, her altimeter flashed warnings as the ground rushed up to meet her. A second guard tried to bring up a big machine gun to track her, but Chifuyu's speed and the big gun's recoil destroyed his aim. As she descended on the grenadier, Chifuyu grabbed the launcher with her left hand and wrenched it aside while throwing a punch with her right. The metal fist, wrapped tightly around her sword's hilt, connected solidly with the grenadier's chest. Four ribs instantly broke from the brutal force of the punch, while the remaining three cracked. Grabbing the grenade launcher in her left hand, Chifuyu closed her fist on the gun, warping the hot barrel beyond use.

The machine gunner lined up his aim and held the trigger. A strong enough man, he tried to hold the gun as he had seen in so many action movies. The first fifteen rounds of the burst were on target, the bullets flickering as they bounced off her shields. The gun's recoil ruined his aim again as he lost control and the weapon continued to jerk in his hands. Trying to shift his feet to maintain control, he instead lost his footing and fell.

The big machine gun continued it's throaty roar as it's owner landed on his back. The barrel went off target and tracked across the third guard in the group. He jerked and twitched as the large caliber rounds crossed through his body, dead before he even knew he was in danger. The fourth guard careened as his former friend's body landed on him, pushing both of them to the ground.

Chifuyu took advantage of the momentary distraction to slide over and grab the machine gun. Taking the gun in both hands, she twisted it in opposite directions, snapping the gun lin half. A quick jab to the side of the gunner's head put him out of the fight.

The last guard pushed his dead compatriot off and started to get his feet under him. Seeing the motion, Chifuyu glanced up from her stance on top of the fallen machine gunner. "Look, you have two choices. Option one, you start running and I let you go, because I'm only here for your prisoner. Option two, you make a move and I drop you like I do all your friends here. So make your choice."

The guard blinked hard for an instant, then dropped his gun and started running. Chifuyu nodded her head as she watched him run. "Good choice."

Turning towards the warehouse, Chifuyu checked her thermal imaging again. Grabbing her Nigata from where it lay on the ground, she ignited the blade one last time. Slashing easily through the cheap steel walls, she made a hole easily big enough to get her IS through it. The first set of walls revealed an interior set of walls, thicker and reinforced. Pounding on the walls with her metal hand, Chifuyu called out loudly. "Ichika, get away from the wall!"

Seeing a slight shift in the thermal image, Chifuyu slammed her energy blade into the wall. The metal resisted momentarily at the hellish assault before parting. Withdrawing the blade, Chifuyu grabbed the cut sections with her hands and pulled the wall open.

Lying against the far side, tied to a chair, was Ichika. His face was covered in caked blood and a mass of bruises. Dirty light colored clothes draped his body, with a couple of tears open showing bandages underneath them. "Chifuyu-nee" he exclaimed, seeing his sister's IS framed in light from the outside.

Pulling the ropes off of Ichika's body, Chifuyu felt her eyes start to water. "Yeah, nee-chan is here. It'll be okay now."

Lifting Ichika through the holes she had cut, Chifuyu set him down lightly on the ground outside. Fussing over his wounds, she looked up to her left see a handful of soldiers running towards them. Noting the uniforms from Tomlinson's unit, she shifted Kurazakura's position slightly to show them that things were under control.

The first gunshot rang out as Chifuyu was looking at Ichika; a red stain appeared on the left side of his chest. Four more shots followed, creating two more hits to Ichika's chest, one higher than the other. Snapping her head to the right, Chifuyu saw the grenadier holding a pistol one-handed, the weapon locked empty. Dropping Ichika to the ground, she fired a quick burst from her thrusters and slammed into the grenadier. A medic ran towards Ichika and started digging into his pack for necessary tools.

Placing both of his arms in one metal hand, Chifuyu yanked the grenadier off the ground and stretched him out in front of her. Tears blurring her vision, Chifuyu slapped his face with a open slap from her left hand. "TELL ME WHY YOU DID THAT!" she bellowed, rage engulfing her mind.

The grenadier choked out a gasp, the pain from his broken ribs excruciating. "Had...orders..." he panted between breaths. "Kill...kid...if we lost him."

Chifuyu's left hand stopped mid-strike, paused to deliver another blow. "Orders? ORDERS?! WHO GAVE YOU THE ORDERS?! TELL ME! TELL ME! TELL ME!" Each word was punctuated with another punch, metal-shod hands making sickly sounds from each strike. One hand came back in a bloody arc, the splatter flying onto Chifuyu's face.

A gloved hand reached out and grabbed onto her shoulder in between blows. Major Tomlinson kept his voice strong to pierce through Chifuyu's rage. "Enough. He can't tell you what you want to know."

The grenadier's head was split open, blood gushing onto the dirt. His chest was misshapen, the bones sticking out at a series of unnatural angles. There was only a little movement from the grenadier as he struggled to draw the next breath into a tortured body. Chifuyu stopped and looked in horror at her handiwork, her face going ashen with shock.

Paul Tomlinson had seen all this before in his ten years of special operations work, and more. He tried to keep his tone strong, but his voice still broke with his next words. "You should go be with your brother. It...doesn't look good."

Dismounting from Kurazakura, Chifuyu ran back to Ichika's prone form. The medic, working furiously to save Ichika, barely even noticed her arrival. Chifuyu grabbed Ichika's free arm as she stroked his face. "Ichika-kun I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't think and I made a mistake."

Crying now, Chifuyu leaned over Ichika's face with her own, her long hair forming a curtain for the two of them. "You have to hold on Ichika, you have to be strong for me. You'll get through this, but you have to be strong. I know it hurts, but you'll get through this."

Ichika's eyes drifted in and out of focus as the medic worked to stabilize him. "Chifuyu-chan?"

Chifuyu tried to smile as she talked to Ichika. "That's right Ichika, it's Chifuyu-chan. Just be strong for me, PLEASE. Just don't leave me alone!"

His eyes drooping and unfocused, Ichika took a shallow breath. "Sorry, Chifuyu-chan. I don't think I can be strong for you."

Chifuyu felt the tension in the hand she gripped decrease. "ICHIKA! ICHIKAAAA!" Pulling his body up close to her in a final embrace, Chifuyu felt her IS suit get stained with Ichika's blood as his life faded away from him.

—*—

The funeral was a quiet, somber affair. There were only a handful of people in attendance to mark the passing of their friend. Chifuyu stood there in a dark suit, staring into the distance but not seeing anything. Her body went through the motions, but it was clear to everyone in attendance that she was not really at the funeral.

The service over, Chifuyu stood over her brother's grave, finally alone. _I'm alone now. Ichika is gone._ Those two thoughts kept warring for dominance in her mind as she cried, the tears falling onto freshly overturned dirt.

Chifuyu was so lost in her grief the she did not hear the scuff of a foot on the path. Her tears kept coming, her grief continuing to build upon itself. It would have probably overwhelmed her then and there had not a voice broken through. "Orimura-san."

Looking up, Chifuyu wiped at her eyes with her jacket sleeve. Turning her head, she saw a young girl, barely in her teens, standing at the edge of the grave while holding a bundle of flowers in her hands. Clothed in a black dress, her dark hair was pulled into a pair of ponytails by a green ribbon. Chifuyu blinked and searched her memory for the name of the face she barely recognized. "Houki-chan?"

Houki nodded, walking closer to the grave site. Kneeling without touching the ground, Houki carefully set the bundle of flowers onto the headstone of her friend. Standing up, Houki clapped her hands one and bowed her head, offering a silent prayer long practice at her grandparent's temple had taught her. Chifuyu closed her eyes and offered her own prayers, begging Ichika for his forgiveness once again.

Finishing her prayers, Chifuyu opened her eyes to find Houki facing her now. Houki's young face was set into a mask of pain, but her eyes burned with anger. "Orimura-san, I need to know how Ichika died. I need you to tell me what happened."

Chifuyu's mouth opened once as she tried to start telling her story, but her voice failed her. Closing her mouth, she let her head hang forward in shame. Her voice came out as a whisper, barely reaching Houki. "Ichika died because of me. I killed him."

Houki's hands reached up to cover her mouth, her eyes growing wider with shock as the words clicked into her brain. Racing forward, she started to attack Chifuyu, her blows raining on the taller woman's stomach and chest. Chifuyu just let the blows land, not moving to dodge or block them. A wordless scream ripped out of Houki's lips, tears of rage and frustration forming in her eyes.

Her rage momentarily exhausted, Houki collapsed to the ground in front of Chifuyu. The older woman, not sure what to do, stood over her best friend's sister as she cried. Houki took a deep breath and started to stand up, her body shaking from the exertion as she fought for control over herself.

Getting her feet unsteadily beneath her, Houki spun around and faced the headstone. Dragging her left hand across the polished granite edge, she pushed downward against the marker. The clean cut stone was not sharp, but it was enough to break the callused skin of her palm. Making a fist around the cut, Houki turned to face Chifuyu again. Blood trickled down between her fingers, splattering on the corner of Ichika's tombstone.

Face calm and relaxed, Houki's eyes blazed with rage as she raised her fist towards Chifuyu. "Chifuyu Orimura, I swear by my blood and on Ichika's grave, one day I will get revenge on you for what you did to Ichika. When that day comes, I will avenge Ichika, and on that day, I will kill you."

Turning and running towards the entrance of the cemetery, Houki failed to hear Chifuyu's response. "Houki-chan, when that day comes, I'll let you."

* * *

A/N 2: So there it is, what's got Houki so...well more pissed than she usually is during the series. Guess she can't win against EITHER Orimura, eh?

This chapter was a bit of a beast to write, the next one is even more so. You've seen it, I can do dialogue, and I can do tension. Pure hot action takes a lot more craftsmanship, and I hope I'm up to the challenge.

I do want to thank Gazdav for his input, it was invaluable. Make sure to check out his stories in the HOTD archive; they're worth the read.

LASTLY, before I go I want to play a little game: Let's ID the OCs! Put a message up there, telling me which chars are OCs and which are borrowed. I've got cookies for anyone who tries, and a whole platter to the person who can put all the OCs on the list.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
Now it's time to meet the monster you helped to create.  
-Song lyrics, Five Finger Death Punch

"YOU!" The single word, spoke with pure vehemence and rage, snapped Chifuyu out of her memories. Looking past her wet hair, Chifuyu saw a slender form in a long raincoat, a slim bundle over one shoulder. There was long hair, somewhat damp from the rain, a slender green and white ribbon peeking out on top.

Chifuyu set a weak smile on her face, trying to keep her voice calm at being disturbed by her brother's grave site, "Hello Shinonono-chan."

"How dare you come here," Houki sneered, her voice glacially cold. "You murderous bitch, what makes you think you can come here today?"

Chifuyu braced one arm lightly on Ichika's gravestone, barely applying any weight to it as she got to her feet. Pulling her heavy, wet hair away from her face, Chifuyu tried to not put her frustration on display for Houki. "Houki-chan, regardless of whatever else you might think, Ichika was my **brother**. I know you and Tabane never really got along, but if you HAD you might understand what I've gone through." A shallow breath slowly puffed out her lips, "and maybe, just maybe you'd know what I'm currently going through."

Houki's hands slid down to the belt holding her raincoat closed as she stalked forward, her toned form moving with athletic confidence. "You're right, I don't know what you've been going through. I also couldn't care about it," she paused as her coat fell open and her right hand gripped the bundle over her right shoulder. "Four years ago, you killed Ichika. He was your brother, and my best friend." The bundle came off the shoulder and went to the left hand as Houki's right hand slid out of the coat sleeve. "Four years ago, at this very spot, I swore to kill you for taking Ichika away from me." The left hand came out of the sleeve, the coat falling to the ground. Gripping the bundle comfortably, Houki's right hand worked at the wrapping to reveal a sheathed katana. A quick tug from her left hand pulled the covering clear of the sheath, baring the weapon to Chifuyu.

For her part, Chifuyu stood stoically as Houki produced the weapon before her. Allowing herself a quick glance at the katana, Chifuyu caught several details. The leather on the grips was worn from use; the sheath was smoothly lacquered in a deep brown. Near the top of the sheath, two marks drew Chifuyu's focus. The first was the symbol of the Emperor, the second was...

"You brought your family's honor blade to kill me?" Chifuyu asked, shock forcing her voice down to barely a whisper.

Houki only nodded as she gripped the sword comfortably, long years of kendo practice coming to fruition. "I had brought the sword to show Ichika I hadn't forgotten him, or the promise I made to him here." A quick tug drew the katana from the sheath, the slightest metallic rasp coming from the oiled blade. "My original plan was to go to the IS academy, getting a suit and killing you with that." Throwing the sheath away, Houki's left hand came up to join the right on the hilt, resting by her left hip. Anticipation brought a minor tremor to Houki's hands, giving the katana a slight tremble. The katana's chisel-tip came over her right shoulder, the blade set to catch any attack Chifuyu might make."But when I saw you here, now, I realized that I couldn't be satisfied that way. I have to kill you with a sword, with my own two hands."

—*—

In the distance, a lone figure waited under a tree, biting a fingernail as the stress built upon them. A single thought screamed in their mind, finally slipping between nearly clenched teeth. "Please don't do it, Houki..."

—*—

Chifuyu eyed the sword in front of her, the aged metal completely free of rust. Her eyes fixed on the gleaming edge pointing towards her, noticing how sharp it appeared even at a distance. Adrenaline started to surge in her blood, tightening up her muscles, pushing her brain faster and faster. _Okay, this is getting bad real fast. Houki's pissed off, got a lethal weapon and the training to use it effectively. I seem to recall her winning at least two of the national championships in the last four years, so she's really good._ A small, defiant voice in her head told her that she'd fought worse situations and won. Her rational mind calmly asked for when and waited for a response. _What do I have to work with? She's in as good as shape as I am, if not better. I've got no defense at the moment, and none at all unless I'm prepared to kill her to save myself. But I don't think I can do that. I do have that hole card of mine, but I don't think I can bring myself to __**use**__ it. _

Letting her eyes wander around without leaving Houki's form, Chifuyu looked for any possible escape route, any means of taking the fight out of her. _Doubt Houki will let me walk away right now, either. If I try to run, she can probably catch up to me and still have enough to put me down._ Chifuyu's eyes caught a shape, a plan forming itself instantly. _That has to be about the craziest thing I've thought about doing. For certain the guys in the German military would hate it. But it's my only chance that doesn't involve Houki dead._ Returning her gaze to Houki, Chifuyu sharpened the tone of her voice. "You petty little child. You think you have any honor attacking a person at their brother's grave while they have no weapon?"

Houki's eyes widened at the harsh rebuke, her grip on the sword whitening her knuckles. Chifuyu saw both reactions, watched Houki draw a single ragged breath. _She's close, but not there yet._ "So you lose your best friend and become nothing more than an assassin." Pausing a moment, Chifuyu picked the right words for her desired effect, "Ichika must be spinning in his grave right now seeing what scum you've become."

Those words did not even get past Chifuyu's lips before Houki struck out with the sword. Rattlesnake fast, she brought the sword up high and lunged, a swing that would cleave Chifuyu in two pieces. Chifuyu stepped in close, her left hand racing up to encompass Houki's as the sword came down. Getting a solid grip, Chifuyu used her height advantage on the younger woman, applying leverage to direct the blade's path away.

The ancient sword came down fast, the breeze of it's passing close on Chifuyu's face as she focused on the next part of her plan. By the time the blade's edge reached her waist, Chifuyu was moving again, her right hand coming up hard for the younger woman's stomach.

Houki, her concentration momentarily broken by Chifuyu's unconventional methods, had only instinct driving her as her body shifted against the new attack. Chifuyu's punch glanced off her abdomen, muscles that were toned and flat from years of rigorous kendo training resisting her strike. The sword tip lanced into the ground and started to rebound, the killing edge turning towards Chifuyu as it rose.

Chifuyu pushed Houki with her free hand and used the movement to throw herself into a backwards roll. Houki's katana continued it's course, the tip grazing Chifuyu's damp hair as it came up into a high one handed arc. A clump of black hair danced in the air for an instant before it soundlessly hit the ground.

Holding the somersault for two full revolutions, Chifuyu broke it and smoothly gained her feet. Houki staggered back from the push, her eyes leaving her victim's form as she glanced down to check her footing. Taking advantage of Houki's distraction, Chifuyu stripped off her soaked jacket, revealing a short sleeved dress shirt, the wet fabric clinging revealingly to her skin.

Giving the jacket a quick spin by a sleeve, Chifuyu wrapped it once around her left and leaving the bulk of the cloth dangling in front of her. Houki lunged in at Chifuyu, the blade reaching out with a deadly purpose. Chifuyu brought up her improvised flail, the back of the wet cloth slapping at the sword and deflecting it by mere centimeters. The damp cloth started to split from riding the razor sharp edge of the sword.

Houki immediately spun on her heels, bringing the katana around in a wide sweeping blow. Chifuyu grabbed the open end of her jacket and pulled it taught, catching the sweep across her right side. The jacket ripped from the force of the blow, but it slowed the katana down to a crawl. Houki pulled back on the katana, taking half of the jacket wrapped loosely around the blade. Chifuyu threw the half she had at Houki's face, hearing a wet whap sound as she dove towards the discarded sheath with an outstretched hand. Her fingertips had just started to close around the wood as she saw a shadow cross behind her.

Houki stabbed downward with her katana, the hilt gripped solidly in both hands. Chifuyu pushed off with one hand, rolling her body lengthwise to the side as the blade barely missed, sinking down into the ground. Scrambling to her feet, Chifuyu put some distance between them as she brought the sheath up into a guard position.

Freeing her blade from the rain soaked mud, Houki glared at Chifuyu, seemingly even more enraged than before. "Look at you," she snarled, her voice tight. "Once the undisputed IS champion, covered in mud and defending her life with a wooden sheath. How **pathetic**."

The words echoed in Chifuyu's head, conjuring a memory from this same place and a different time. _"How pathetic. The undisputed IS champion, now bawling like a baby in the mud," the voice continued, a cruel parody of her own. "I can't believe just how fast you fell."_

Chifuyu's eyes refocused from the brief lapse into memory. The grip on the sheath tightened, the position of the polished wood shifted from guarding to a stance more suited for attack. "You know, you're right," a feral glint sharpening Chifuyu's features as she spoke. "I have been pathetic for a while. But I'm better now."

Striking out with renewed purpose, Chifuyu lunged hard, her left hand bracing the bottom of the sheath. The wooden tip rose straight at Houki's jaw, only to be swept away by her katana. Houki kept the sword inside Chifuyu's guard, going into a hard thrust, the chisel tip driving straight for the heart.

Shifting the weight on her heels, Chifuyu rolled her right side away from Houki. The blade's tip passed mere millimeters from Chifuy's skin, but the razor edge on the sword caressed her ribs just below the curvature of her breasts. Pain flashed spots before Chifuyu's eyes as she brought the sheath back around to slam against Houki's left arm, the limb fallling limp from the katana's hilt.

Chifuyu stepped away, dancing through the gravestones to put obstacles between her and Houki. Running a hand delicately across the cut, she quickly probed the wound. Her finger sunk in easily to the first knuckle, the blood hot and wet on her skin. Houki eyed her katana, tracing the edge stained with Chifuyu's blood. "Your bleeding, bitch. Pretty soon now it'll soak the ground here, and Ichika will rest at peace."

Moving around the gravestones, Houki flexed her left arm rhythmically, working blood and feeling back into it. Her body sunk down into a boneless stalk, a big panther coming to take down prey.

Chifuyu found it hard to breathe, the cut along her ribs screaming with every exertion as blood continued to run. Exhaustion ate at her senses, her head started to swim. _Feeling light-headed, this can't be good._ Keeping all her focus on Houki, Chifuyu started moving again, trying to keep a headstone between them at all times. As a result of her total focus, Chifuyu felt out the path her feet were taking, never daring to take her eyes off Houki for an instant.

That focus was ultimately her undoing, when Chifuyu's path took her across a low slung headstone. The squat marker failed to budge as she fell backwards over it. Her brain already slowed by blood loss, Chifuyu took the fall badly, crashing her hip against the base of the marker and numbing the leg. Worse still, Chifuyu's hands splayed open to catch her fall, giving the katana's sheath enough momentum to travel several feet in the air as it landed against another grave with a wooden clank.

Houki reacted instantly to the vulnerability, sprinting around a grave marker. Closing the distance, Houki dropped down onto her foe, landing her full weight with both knees on Chifuyu's chest. Chifuyu uttered a single explosive burst of breath as Houki reversed her grip on the katana, holding it daggerlike in both hands, the sword shaking violently in anticipation of the kill. An almost sexual lust flashed in Houki's blue eyes, her lips curling back into a snarl. "It's over now, Chifuyu. Ichika can rest easily from here on."

Chifuyu's mind raced as the blade started to descend at her. _NO! I will not lose here, not to her. But I can't be sure I can use that again._ Reflexively her left arm started to rise, the hand starting to hook into a palm strike. Even as her body reacted, Chifuyu knew it was going to be too little to save her life.

Ever so slowly the sword continued it's lethal arc. Some small part of Chifuyu's mind knew she had only seconds to live, and her life started to flash before her eyes. Every beat of her heart brought a new vision. The times training with Ichika. The day their parents left. Meeting Tabane and Houki. Winning the first Mondo Grosso. The day Ichika died. All those images passed in the instant the blade barely crossed halfway between them. Her mind tried to find one last way, one possible solution. It was a testament to her focus that she perceived the blurring effect right in front of her, directly in front of the sword's path.

The blur resolved itself to be a large chunk of metal with a vaguely familiar design. Houki's katana bounced off the hardened composite metal without leaving a scratch. The murderous moment passed, and Chifuyu's hand shifted it's target from the sword to rise up to Houki's chin. It landed cleanly, but without the force necessary to do all the work. Stars erupted into Houki's vision, her focus broken for a bare instant. Bracing her working leg against the grave marker, Chifuyu leveraged herself up, throwing the younger woman off. Houki fell and landed badly, but started to scramble to her feet instantly.

"Houki-chan, stop this at once," a sad, older voice barked out. Houki glanced over at the source of the voice. A voluptuous woman, a few years older than Houki, stood there. Wearing a long blue dress covered a white frilly smock while two mechanical rabbit ears poked out from her long dark brown hair. Her purple eyes were watery, and the shine of tears could be seen along her rounded cheeks and down the narrow edge of her chin. Her left hand was holding an oversized television remote, the right was held up in an expression of outrage and authority.

Chifuyu glanced over at her benefactor, knowing exactly who it was. "Hey Tabane."

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the delay in this one. Was trying to get it out sooner, but I had to make sure it was exciting enough. Not entirely sure if I succeeded, but that's for the reviews to decide.

And I got my first flame! Woot! At least it shows A) someone's reading this story, and B) it affected them well enough to want to do a review, even if it was just a flame. What can I say? Love me or hate me. Either way, you're basking in my warmth. :-)

As always, read it and review it. I can't be sure if I'm doing good if I'm not seeing reviews to tell me otherwise.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.  
-Mahatma Gandhi

Tabane Shinonono walked forward, the remote dropping to her side. "Hey Chi-chan. You don't look so good right now." Shifting her gaze to her younger sister. "And Houki-chan, you look even worse. Whatever drove you to do all this?"

Houki's eyes flared at her sister's intrusion. "What drove me to do this," her voice rising with each word. "That...that BITCH told me SHE KILLED ICHIKA. Do you think I could ever forgive her for that!"

Her eyes closing as she bowed her head, Tabane started to mutter something under her breath. "Houki Houki Houki. You just don't understand. I've been upset about losing Ik-kun too. It hurts me too, a little everyday." Opening her eyes, Tabane tried to keep her focus to avoid breaking into tears. "But on a day when I was hoping to remember the good things about Ik-kun, I find my little sister trying to kill my friend."

"Of course you would defend that murderous bitch," Houki growled out with a snarl. "She is your best friend, after all."

Tabane shook her head, the tail of her long hair bouncing from hip to hip with each movement. "I can't deny Chi-chan's friendship is part of the reason I defend her actions." Tabane's voice grew stronger, dropping octaves from her normal high pitched squeal to something suitable for an experienced woman her age. "But that's not the only reason I defend Chifuyu. I know the whole truth about what happened with Ik-kun. Lastly, I know the kind of person Chi-chan is." Tabane paused now, the last vestiges of sympathy fading from her eyes. "The simple fact is this: IF Chifuyu truly was the kind of person you really believed her to be, then you would be dead right now."

A wry bark of laughter popped out of Houki at her sister's statement. "You're telling me that Chifuyu could have killed me if she wanted to?" Glancing down at Chifuyu's bleeding form lying on the ground, Houki tried to find any truth in the declaration. "I think you've lived in your lab too long, away from the world. You've lost touch with reality. But you're as responsible for what happened to Ichika as she is. After all, if you hadn't built the IS in the first place, Ichika wouldn't have been killed by people trying to steal them. And I would have been able to live a quiet, normal life instead of being constantly thought of as 'Tabane Shinonono's sister'. After I get done with Chifuyu, I'll find a way to deal with you."

New tears formed in Tabane's eyes at Houki's words. Her head fell forward, the rabbit ears pointing towards the ground as some loose hair covered her face. Chifuyu rolled along her numb leg, getting her good one under her and coming up to kneeling position. Keeping her focus on Houki, Chifuyu took an instant to glance at her old friend. Quiet sobs reached her ears, and Tabane's slim shoulders shook as she cried. Tears formed in Chifuyu's own eyes now, rage and frustration coming to a moment of clarity as she watched her friend crying.

"You know something, Houki, Tabane is right," Chifuyu said, climbing shakily to her feet. She continued to favor her left leg, keeping most of her weight on the right side of her body. Blackness crept into her vision as her head swum from blood loss. "I could have killed you early on. But contrary to what you fantasize about," Chifuyu paused, her mind struggling to come up with the right words, "But. I. Am. Not. A. Killer."

"Chi-chan!" Both combatants glanced at Tabane's rigid form, unchanged from when she had started crying. "Talking to Houki-chan won't help things now. She's not going to listen in her current state."

Chifuyu glanced back once at Houki, then to her old friend. "Probably not. But changing her state..."

Tabane's head came up, bringing her wet eyes to make contact with Chifuyu's. "She has brought this upon herself. If you have to harm Houki to convince her, then that's what you'll have to do. If you do, I will forgive you for it, even if she does not."

Wiping away tears with a darting hand, Chifuyu felt tension drain away from her body. _Whatever happens now, happens. _Chifuyu brought up her hands into a standard defensive posture, her left side slightly forward to favor the numb leg. "Come on then, child. I don't have all day, and if you can't kill me with the next attack you never will."

A roar of rage covered the entire graveyard as Houki snatched up the katana from the ground and charged. The blade came up high, gripped solidly in her strong hands as the distance between them closed. Sunlight glinted off the killing edge as Houki started to bring the ancient sword down as Chifuyu raised her left hand, palm out towards her opponent.

The centuries-old katana came down fast, Houki's rage giving it extra speed. It would have cleanly cleaved the arm off, followed an instant later by easily passing through Chifuyu's skull.

Instead, it clanged loudly off a gauntlet, the black metal shrugging off the blade without a scratch. Oversized fingers ending in pointed tips made a fist around the katana's guard to the accompaniment of a slight whine. Houki had barely enough time to comprehend that her blade was caught before Chifuyu's right fist slammed home in a brutal hook punch just behind her left temple. Stars flashed through Houki's vision and pain darkened the edges, but her kendo training reasserted itself and she started to pull against the obstruction holding her sword.

Chifuyu's shifted her weight with her punch, fighting Houki for possession of the katana. Her right hand retracted from the blow, and as it started to track forward, a blur distorted the air. The blur resolved itself into a second metal gauntlet, the black metal connecting to a white forearm trimmed with silver and black highlights.

Feeling fresh energy coursing through her, Chifuyu jabbed her right hand hard at Houki's midsection again. The deployed IS gauntlet landed solidly, getting a sharp burst of air from Houki. Chifuyu kept pounding a series of short punches into Houki and applying torque against the smaller woman's grip. Houki stepped closer towards Chifuyu to assert control on the sword, only to receive a second hook to her head. The punch, delivered by the heavier IS gauntlet, staggered Houki, relaxing her grip on the sword.

Chifuyu punched the younger woman in the chest with her right hand, the force of the blow seperating them. Houki, her brain reeling from the punches, tripped over her own feet and crashed hard against a gravestone. Slamming her right arm against the solid marker, Houki felt a blinding pain near her neck and collapsed onto her chest.

Standing stronger now, Chifuyu flipped the sword in her left hand, using a dagger styled grip on the ancient weapon. Stabbing the katana into the ground, Chifuyu buried the top four inches into the dirt. Houki looked up from her near-fetal position to see Chifuyu bring her right hand into a palm strike against her family blade. The ancient metal snapped with a shriek, the hilt separating from the blade a handsbreadth above the guard. Chifuyu tossed the ruined weapon towards Houki, the broken pieces landing on the grave base with a clatter.

Focusing to push through the pain, Houki's eyes locked on to two metal forearms Chifuyu now wore over her own. It took a moment for her dazed brain to make the connection. "Those...you..." Houki started, trying to put together a coherent thought.

Nodding slightly, Chifuyu let her eyes drift close. An instant later, a white shimmer appeared across her body. Where the white faded, things changed. The damp, bloodied clothes were gone, replaced by a skintight outfit that emphasized the charms of the woman who wore it. The new cloth was white, with black trim along the edges of the sleeves. A silver bird spread it's wings across the breasts, the design almost invisible against the background. A metal harness wrapped Chifuyu's chest and shoulders, leaving her arms maximum mobility while securing her firmly into place. A metalic quasi-belt was next, the pieces of it riding high on her hips, while an oversized sword's grip rested comfortably on her left side. Her long legs disappeared below the knees, swallowed up by contoured extensions that raised her up to the IS's full ten foot height. Pauldrons shaped into the graceful design of mechanical wings floated above each respective shoulder, the thrusters on the edges giving the appearance of feathers. The white metal shone in the soft sunlight, while the black and silver trim on the armor served to emphasize the lethal nature of the machine.

A quick message flashed across Chifuyu's left eye. ***Pilot status sub-optimal. Engaging secondary protocols and auxiliary life support measures. Rerouting power from weapons and thrusters.*** The pain in Chifuyu's chest started fading immediately as Kurazakura's computer proceeded to apply medical treatments. _That's another one I owe you Tabane._ "This is the reason you couldn't beat me, Houki. I had Kurazakura with me the entire time, ready to respond at a moment's call. If I had wanted to fight you, to KILL you, then I could have summoned it here at the start." Taking a knee next to her friend's sister, Chifuyu softened her tone, "And while you're good with a sword, you don't have what it takes to beat me with an IS. I doubt you ever will."

Houki rolled into a sitting position, her right arm hanging useless at her side. Reaching across her body, she pulled her hand into lap and got her knees under her. "So...what now? Are you going to call the police, have me locked up?" Her eyes settled on the sword hilt at Chifuyu's side. "Maybe kill me, just so you can sleep knowing I'm dead like Ichika?"

Pain flicked across Chfiuyu's face at the mention of Ichika's name. Standing up, she started to walk towards her old friend. Standing close to Tabane, Chifuyu dropped her voice to a confidential whisper. "So how are we going to handle this?"

Tabane tapped a single finger against her chin for a moment, her eyes screwed shut in concentration. Popping them open, she glanced up to meet Chifuyu's gaze directly. "Well, I think the only real solution here is to give her the entire story."

Eyes widening in surprise, Chifuyu looked down at Tabane skeptically. "I doubt she'd believe anything we tell her."

Tabane broke into a wild smile, the childlike expression natural on her face. Chifuyu felt some of the tension drop from her shoulders only to settle in her gut. "That might be Chi-chan, but Houki-chan should believe it when I show her the videos."

Prancing over to Houki's kneeling form, Tabane sat down smoothly next to her sister, pulling the hem of her dress away to keep from sitting on it. "Houki-chan, I have something I need to show you. In all honesty, I should have shown you this four years ago, but..." Tabane's finger came up to tap on her chin again. "But at first I wanted to respect my friend's privacy. So I chose to keep this from you, which I see now was a mistake." Tabane's firm gaze locked onto Houki's teal eyes. Houki tried to look away, but the purple eyes kept pulling her back to it. "Houki-chan, please understand that what you are going to see is the truth, and try to keep an open mind."

Motioning to Chifuyu to come over, Tabane poked at her sister's injuries eliciting grunts of pain from Houki. Pulling out her remote again, Tabane tapped a few buttons with her thumb. A box and an oversized bag shimmered into existence between Chifuyu and Tabane, seperated by a couple of feet. Noting the red cross on the side of the bag, Chifuyu grabbed it and carried it to her friend. Tabane did not take her eyes off Houki as her hands reached into the bag and produced assorted bandages and a couple of odd devices.

Placing a firm hand on Houki's left shoulder, Tabane gently guided her sister down to the ground. Grabbing up a handful of Houki's shirt, Tabane pulled it up, revealing sports bra covering an impressive chest and a number of gashes on the younger woman's chest and abdomen. Whistling quietly, Tabane started to apply antiseptic laden pressure bandages to the wounds.

Chifuyu watched her friend working, hearing each little gasp from Houki as the treatment went on. Seeing the cuts and gashes on Houki, she glanced down at her right hand. The metal was shiny and wet, the blood barely visible on the black gauntlet. Fixating on the sight, Chifuyu missed out on her friend calling to her. Coming back to her senses, she looked up at Tabane, still working on Houki. "Sorry Tabane," she said, her voice distant and a little tight. "I...missed what you said."

Tabane's voices had only a trace of worry in it. "I said, while I'm working on Houki-chan, can you access Kurazakura's flight recorder and pull up the day Ik-kun died?" One hand came up and pointed vaguely at the large box next to Chifuyu. "The projector there is programmed to receive on channel one-one-seven-nine. It'll give Houki-chan something to do."

Complying with her friend's instructions, Chifuyu accessed the recorder data and watched the projector start to replay the last day she felt truly alive.

—*—

Houki watched the video play out, seeing the fight from Chifuyu's point of view. Banking and climbing, fighting the big guns and the people holding Ichika. _I guess she really deserved the title of Brunhilde,_ she thought, watching people fall at Chifuyu's hands. Her ribs ached where Tabane was tightly wrapping them with the bandages, and her shoulder screamed in agony holding her arm up. The pain distracted Houki, but it did not prevent her from watching the video to it's bloody conclusion. Tears clouded her eyes as she saw Ichika getting rescued, and when he died she leaned forward and cried into Tabane's chest.

Tabane stopped working when her sister pressed into her, lightly draping her arms around the younger woman to avoid increasing the injuries. One hand drifted up to pat Houki on the head, the other wrapping her shoulders. Houki's sobs got muffled as her face buried itself into her sister's bosom, the sounds barely reaching Chifuyu only a few feet away. Turning away from her friend, Chifuyu walked away to give the kneeling women some privacy in a moment of grief, and to hide her own tears from both of them.

The two Shinonono sisters remained in that position for a time, with Tabane's dress getting damp from her sister's tears. Houki slowly stopped crying, her breathing growing less ragged as she managed to get her emotions under control.

Houki pulled herself away from her sister, locking onto Chifuyu with bloodshot eyes. "The last time that we were here," she started, her voice breaking, "you said you had killed Ichika."

Tabane pulled out a small pair of devices and attached them to Houki's shoulder. Switching them on, she produced her remote and started tapping quickly with all the fingers on her right hand. The pain in Houki's shoulder flared hard for a moment and then started to fade as the hum increased in octaves. Finished with her sister, Tabane climbed to her feet and picked up the medical bag, walking over to her friend. Chifuyu hunched over a little as Tabane raised up the bottom hem of the top of her IS suit, exposing the deep cut. Blood started to flow again as the pressure from the IS suit was removed, causing Chifuyu to get dizzy.

The silence hung in the air a moment longer before Chifuyu answered the accusation. "In a lot of ways, I did kill Ichika. I could have let the military guys go in without me. I should have picked up Ichika and flown away. I should have properly neutralized the guards," she paused, letting the thought finish itself, "maybe made sure they couldn't hurt anyone before I got Ichika out." Her voice started to break again. "But Ichika died because of the mistakes I made. So when I told you I killed him, that was the truth."

Tabane looked up from Chifuyu's chest to glance at her friend's face. One hand pressed down hard on the bandaged covered cut, causing Chifuyu to gasp in pain. Her face pale from the pain, Chifuyu looked down at Tabane, whose purple eyes were focused. "Chi-chan isn't telling you the entire truth, Houki-chan." Pulling down the IS suit, Tabane turned to face her sister. "From a legal standpoint, Ik-kun's death wasn't her fault. She made a mistake, yes, but Chi-chan didn't put her brother in direct danger."

Houki's blue eyes flared in anger, growing colder in a moment. Tabane caught the look, trying to let it not bother her. "I know, you're thinking I'm making technicalities on something as important as this. But I said, 'Chi-chan didn't put her brother in direct danger'. That is the truth." Watching her sister closely, Tabane chose her next words carefully. "The plan to kidnap Ichika came from someone else, and they would be the one responsible for his death."

Houki's face went slack, her jaw hanging opening from the shock of the message. Tabane heard a sharp intake of breath from behind her, knowing that Chifuyu was just as surprised. Recovering faster, Chifuyu managed to get the first question out. "How...how did you know about that?"

Spinning around on one foot, Tabane's dress billowed out as she came to face her friend. "I learned about it at the same time you did, Chi-chan."

Her mind trying to wrap itself around this new fact, Houki closed her mouth with an audible snap. "Nechan, you would say anything to help out your friend. I know it, and you know it too."

Tabane glanced back over her right shoulder, the grin on her face partially visible. "Yeah, I probably would say anything. But I told you I would tell you the truth earlier, and I will not go back on that statement." Grabbing her remote with both hands, her fingers blurred as they flew across the controls. "Here, watch this."

The projector came back to life with a different, but still familiar, scene.

—*—

Watching Houki running away, Chifuyu felt her energy start to drain away. Collapsing next to her brother's gravestone, she proceeded to start crying again. Thunder rumbled overhead and the sky started to darken as storm clouds pushed in. Chifuyu kept her head down, letting her hair drape across her face, trying to push all of her grief into the cool stone where it touched her cheek.

The crunch of gravel close by got Chifuyu's attention, but she kept it from showing on her body. Believing it to be a graveyard caretaker, she just continued to cry as the sounds come closer. A feminine voice, high pitched and young carried to her ears. "How pathetic."

Chifuyu's reverie was broken instantly at the insult, her eyes snapped up to look at the new person. "The undisputed IS champion, now bawling like a baby in the mud," the voice continued, a cruel parody of her own. "I can't believe just how fast you fell."

The person standing before her was a teenager, a few years older than Houki. She had the gangly appearance of a teen in her early years, at the stage of awkward development. Long limbs gave an almost coltish appearance, but the swell of breasts and curvy hips clearly defined her femininity. Chifuyu's brain noted the dark colored casual clothes, the misshapen sack resting at her feet. Tracking upwards, Chifuyu felt an electric shock when her eyes landed on the girl's face. Black hair framed the sharp, angular lines of the teenager's face. A slim but strong chin lead into delicate cheekbones, making her seem younger still. Brown eyes stared down at Chifuyu with a reptilian intensity, devoid of any emotion.

Her brain racing to process what she was seeing, Chifuyu leaned away from Ichika's headstone. A pair of heartbeats brought a single thought to the front of everything. _I've seen that face before._ Another heartbeat brought the solution to her problem. _In the mirror. She_ _looks like me from some of my old school pictures._ "You..." she started, her mind still reeling from what she was seeing. "You look like I did, a few years ago."

The stranger's face broke into a mirthless smile, the lips peeling back to revealing gleaming teeth. "I should hope I look like you," she paused to break into a bigger grin tinged with malicious glee, "onesan."

Chifuyu's head recoiled with the intensity of a punch to the face. Her mind kept repeating the word 'sister', trying to reconcile the implications. "Who are you?"

The young woman's face broke into a genuine smile, enjoying the moment. "You mean you don't know, nee-san? I'm Madoka. Madoka Orimura."

"You can't be my sister," Chifuyu said, punctuating her statement with a shake of her head. "I only have one sibling, and that was Ichika."

Madoka's smile faded slightly, dropping into a conceited smirk. It was an expression that seemed all too natural on her face. "Well, I guess I can't blame you for not knowing who I am, nee-san. I was never really introduced to the family, after all. But I'm not here to be introduced to the family. Or even to you." The smirk faded completely away now. "You see, I've been a bad imouto."

Chifuyu felt a solid chunk of ice form in her stomach. "What have you been bad about?"

"It's simple enough, really. I don't like you, nee-san. You've gotten the fame, the friends, the family. Things that I should have had." Madoka paused momentarily to pick up the sack one handed, never taking her eyes off Chifuyu. "So I went out and...made some friends. People who didn't like you for various reasons, for the changes to the world they had been running. They didn't trust me at the start, but I managed to convince them eventually. After earning their trust, I convinced them of a plan I had."

"What plan?" Chifuyu roared, rising to her feet in outrage.

Madoka smirked again, an almost devilish grin. "Well, it was a plan to replace you. I was going to take everything that mattered away from you. Our brother, your IS. Even your life, when it was all done."

All the color drained from Chifuyu's face, turning her fair complexion ashen. Feeling gut-punched, she staggered back against Ichika's head stone. Her next words came out just above a whisper. "You mean you had Ichika killed?"

Madoka's eyes flashed indignantly at the accusation and a shake of her head. "No no no, nee-san," she purred, trying to keep Chifuyu calm. "My plan was to merely kidnap Ichika, to bring him to me. Then I'd introduce myself and...convince him that you were in the wrong."

Tears clouded up Chifuyu's vision, running down the sides of her face. "If that was your plan, then why is Ichika dead?"

Dropping her head, Madoka averted her eyes from Chifuyu's scornful gaze. "The...people I was working with decided that it would be better to have Ichika killed, instead of just kidnapped. They changed my plan, added orders to kill Ichika if they couldn't get away with him." A sigh escaped her lips as they dropped down into a frown. "They should have known better, they really should. I told them when I brought up this plan that if they didn't give me what I wanted they would have to pay the price."

Grabbing the bottom of the bag with her right hand, Madoka flipped it over. The contents of the upended sack fell out with solid thuds as each misshapen object hit the ground. Chifuyu's eyes tracked in on the first, noting the different colors as it rolled to a stop at her feet. Her breath caught in her chest as she realized what it was.

Madoka broke into a devilish grin. "I made damn sure to collect that price." Waving a hand at the collection of human heads on the ground now, the grin graduated to a full smile. The heads of four men and two women, their faces all locked into the final moments of agony, spread out before Madoka. The stench of decaying flesh hit Chifuyu and her knees buckled as she felt her stomach tighten up, trying to bring up the meager breakfast she had eaten. "The heads of the three people in charge, and their lieutenants, who were responsible for Ichika's death."

Chifuyu looked up to see the proud expression on Madoka's face and lost control, retching hard on to the ground. Vomit splattered on the soil, droplets hitting her shoes and the nearest head. Closing her eyes, Chifuyu took a series of shallow breaths to calm her stomach and mind. Wiping her mouth with a sleeve, she opened her eyes to glare at the younger woman. "You, you're a monster."

Eyes flashing with rage, Madoka darted in at Chifuyu with lightning fast speed, feinting a punch at the older woman's head. Chifuyu reacted with honed reflexes, jerking her head back away from the strike only to feel a hand grab onto her chest. Planting one foot behind Chifuyu's, Madoka took her through a classic hip throw. Chifuyu tried ease her fall, only to slam her back onto one of the severed heads. Pain flashed across her eyes and Chifuyu felt the world go white for just a moment.

Taking advantage of the situation, Madoka slammed down onto Chifuyu, pinning the older woman's arms between her legs. A folding knife materialized in Madoka's hands, the blackened steel pressing up against Chifuyu's carotid. The pulsing artery throbbed rapidly, each vibration causing the skin to rub against the razor edge. Blood welled up around the knife's edge, trickling down to the ground.

"Make no mistake, Chifuyu-nee," Madoka started, her voice frightening from it's lack of emotion. "I did not want Ichika dead. But I absolutely want you dead. Right here, right now, I could kill you. But the problem is that you're just too pathetic in your current state. It wouldn't be any fun for me, and that's my biggest concern. When I come for you, I want you at your best.

"So go ahead and live your life, but know that one day I will be back. On that day, you and I will finish this business, and when that happens you will die." The pressure of the knife vanished from Chifuyu's neck, and Madoka brutally slammed the handle into her forehead, stunning the older woman. Smoothly disentangling herself, Madoka took one last look at Chifuyu lying dazed on the ground. Returning the knife to it's place in her pocket, Madoka turned and briskly walked away, never looking over her shoulder.

Coming to her senses, Chifuyu slowly rolled into a sitting position. Gingerly touching the cut on her neck, she examined the severity as her mind sorted out everything that had happened. Eyeing the six severed heads, Chifuyu pulled out her cell phone and made a call.

—*—

The screen faded to black as the projector clicked itself off. Houki turned to face the two older women, eyes wide in disbelief. "Is it true? Is Madoka your sister?"

Dismissing Kurazakura in a shimmer of light, Chifuyu dropped down to the ground. "Is it true?" she echoed, a weak imitation of Houki's voice. "I'm not sure. I checked the family records I could find, and there's no mention of a Madoka. Her age seemed to be between me and Ichika. I don't remember my mother being pregnant around that time, and she was pretty much a homebody."

Exhaustion setting in, Chifuyu plopped herself down on the ground, careful not to dislodge her bandages. "Is it _possible_ Madoka is my sister? Sure. You saw the playback there. She looks too much like me that it wouldn't be a big leap to accept her as my sister. But I can't accept that fact."

"Why not?" Houki demanded, confusion giving way towards anger.

"Because Chi-chan can't accept that she could have a sister who is responsible for Ik-kun's death," Tabane stated simply.

Nodding agreement, Chifuyu focused in on Houki. "There's a bit more to it than just that. You saw the playback, Madoka is ruthless and prone to violence. She'd probably be best described as nearly bat shit crazy. If she's my sister, then who's to say I won't go the same route." Chifuyu paused, her voice dropping to a whisper. "There are times I think I'm crazy already."

Tabane walked over and wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulders, pulling them together. "Don't worry Chi-chan. Remember, in our friendship, I'm the crazy one. You're the strong, responsible one."

Smiling lightly at the encouragement, Chifuyu let out a quick bark of laughter. "Yeah, but with you people see it more as eccentric Tabane."

Houki watched the two older women banter as only friends could do. "So, now what?" she asked, her voice sharp from her impatience. "What happens to me?"

Tabane shared a meaningful look with Chifuyu, exchanging ideas wordlessly. Coming to a conclusion, she faced her sister. "Well, Houki-chan, I guess the answer to that question is up to you. While yes, you did attack Chi-chan here with a lethal weapon and the intent to kill her, I doubt Chi-chan will be running off to call the police on you. You could turn yourself in to the police, but they would have no proof other than your statement."

"And if they came to me, I would deny any such attack happening," Chifuyu added, nodding at her friend's assessment.

"But...why?" Houki asked, confusion apparent no her face.

Chifuyu thought about her response for a moment before coming up with the right words. "Because I don't think you should have your life ruined over a mistake I made. I could have, no I should have shown you the flight recorder log from the day Ichika died. I should have made it clear what happened." She paused, and when she resumed her tone had softened from an adult lecturing a child to one more suited between friends. "You've wasted four years of your life already because of me. I couldn't let you waste more."

Houki dropped her gaze to the ground as tears formed in the edges of her eyes. She closed her eyes as emotions overwhelmed her. A hand came up around Houki's shoulders, pulling her into a soft embrace. Tabane just held her sister again, waiting for Houki to settle down.

After a couple of minutes, Houki finally raised her head away from Tabane's chest. Normally blue eyes were now bloodshot and still glistened with tears. "I...I don't know what to say. Thank you, Orimura-san."

A soft smile broke onto Chifuyu's face at the use of the term from Houki's childhood. "I think 'thank you' is good enough. Houki-chan, you and I might not ever be friends like it is between Tabane and me. But that doesn't mean we can't at least be friendly, does it?"

An odd expression flashed across Houki's face for a moment as she tried to comprehend what was being said. "I'll try," she stated simply, a half smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Now if you'll excuse me ladies, I need to go home and think about some things."

Giving each of the older women a heartfelt bow, Houki gingerly turned and walked away. Chifuyu and Tabane watched in silence as the teenager strolled down the path before turning out of sight. Shifting her gaze to her old friend, Chifuyu cleared her throat quietly. "Sorry about breaking your family's honor blade."

Tabane waved away the apology absentmindedly, her eyes wandering around the area. "Don't worry about it," she said, her voice whimsical. "It wasn't the honor blade, just a copy I made a while back. The actual blade is in storage at my place."

"Which is...?" Chifuyu asked, her voice neutral.

Turning back to her old friend, Tabane just grinned. "Somewhere I feel safe. What are you going to do with Houki-chan? She did get into the IS Academy, you know."

Now it was Chifuyu's turn to grin. "Oh, I'll treat her like any of my other students. No favoritism there, either for or against her. It's the least I can do for her I think." The grin faded away. "I need to thank you though, Tabane. You really helped me out there, probably saved my life in the process."

A childlike smile crossed across Tabane's face, the expression perfectly natural on her. "It was no big deal to me, Chi-chan. Losing Ik-kun hurt a lot, made the world a less exciting place. Losing you would have just made the world entirely too boring."

Running one hand across the cut on her chest, Chifuyu tried not to dwell on what Tabane just said. "Don't suppose you have a change of clothes I can borrow do you? I came here with someone, and she'll worry if I come back to her in an IS suit."

"Oooooo, 'she'll worry'?" Tabane teased. Whipping out the remote again, Tabane tapped a few buttons with only her left thumb. A small suitcase shimmered into existence near Chifuyu. Tabane ran over and unzipped it quickly, revealing a wide variety of clothes. Eyeing the dresses at top, Chifuyu watched her friend shift materials around to expose familiar items.

"Uh...Tabane..." Chifuyu started, shock tightening up her voice.

"Yes Chi-chan," Tabane replied smoothly, not even looking up from her work.

"Is there a REASON you have a suitcase packed with things that look like they came from my closet?"

Tabane paused now to grin at her friend. "Well, being a genius I figured I might need to have a guest over from time to time. So I prepared ahead."

Touching one top with a pointed toe, Chifuyu's voice hardened fast. "But I only got that particular top last month. And that bra there, I bought it a week ago."

Grinning now with an almost roguish quality, a blush turned Tabane's face crimson. "Umm..."

Dropping her head in defeat, Chifuyu blew a slow breath out between pursed lips. "We'll have to have this talk later," she said with a frustration laden voice. "Do you happen to have a copy of that outfit I wore today in there?"

Tabane just smiled as she produced a dark suit jacket with matching skirt. "Are you okay to put it on, or do I need to do it for you?"

Muttering under her breath, Chifuyu snatched away the clothes as she started to get dressed.

* * *

Bonus scenes!

A/N: This was stuff I wrote as I was working on it, but I couldn't find a way to properly bring it into the story without it being too disruptive. It should NOT be considered essential to the story as I tell it.

Chapter 3 Bonus Scene

The stars shone brighter as Chifuyu crossed the border between atmospheric flight and orbital operations. Shirokishi flew comfortably, the engines purring smoothly through the frame, leaving a pleasant tingle in her stomach. Checking her HUD, Chifuyu saw the radio was still open. "Hey Tabane, you there?"

The reply was instant as a high pitched voice came back through the speakers. **"Of course I am Chi-chan."**

"I got so wrapped up in things earlier, I forgot to ask about you. How have you been?"

"**Oh, I keep busy with my little projects. Re-tuning and modifying Shirokishi. Designing new gear for IS usage."** The sound of tapping on a keyboard came through the radio channel. **"Usually doing whatever I want to keep the world interesting to me."**

Making a minor course correction, Chifuyu smiled lightly as she listened to her friend work and talk at the same time.. _Tabane will always be the same._ "And how is your sister...Houki? I haven't seen her since you made the debut of the IS. I know Ichika still talks about her from time to time."

The sound of typing stopped abruptly. **"Houki-chan? She's been good. I don't see her as much as I could. Her grades in school are pretty fair, but I think that's more of people's expectations of her being too high."**

"You try talking to her about it?"

"**Yeah, I visited her a few weeks back, but she wasn't interested too much in school. 'I'm not you, nee-chan, all that learning is boring. I just want to do my kendo.' I decided not to push the point too much at the time."**

Chifuyu grinned as she found a problem even a super genius like Tabane could not solve. "Well, younger siblings are allowed to have a mind of their own. Eventually they'll either come to the conclusion that we knew what we're talking about, or things will work out for them on their own."

"**Well, I hope it gets sooner than later. After all, Houki-chan is a bit of a handful at times."**

Surprise rocked through Chifuyu, almost shifting her off course. "What do you mean?"

The radio stayed silent for a long pause, leaving Chifuyu to check and make sure it was still active. **"Well, Houki-chan apparently got her hands on some pictures of me from a visit to one of the hot springs resorts I favored. She put them up on the Internet, made all sorts of trouble for me."** Tabane's voice grew even more cheerful. **"But I will say, I do look good in the pictures."**

Chifuyu's head rocked as if she had been slapped. "Wait a second, this wasn't that time I went with you to that resort was it?"

"**Well...yes it was."**

"You bitch," Chifuyu roared, hot rage pouring into the her voice. "You told me you didn't save any of those pictures!"

"**Did I? I don't remember. But you were having so much fun in them that I just couldn't bring myself to delete the pictures. Anyway, I already sent out a virus to destroy all copies of the pictures. And it's not like they could see your face in any of them. But I guess a clever person might figure it out."** A low, bestial growl bubbled out of Chifuyu's throat, carrying clearly over the radio. **"Oops, gotta go Chi-chan."** The radio channel went to static before clicking off.

Chifuyu closed her eyes for a moment, trying not to let herself get distracted from her mission at hand. "After I'm done saving Ichika-kun, friend or not, I am thoroughly going to kick your ass Tabane."

* * *

A/N: Decided to wrap this story here. Got a pair of solid ideas where to go next, and I enjoy both of them too much to pick one over the other. So I'll write two sequels, post them jointly and let the readers enjoy the fun. I'll try to post them around the first of the month, give or take life.

To all the folks who Favorited or Followed this story: Thank you all. I hope you've had as much fun reading this as I did writing it. If not more so, because some of the sections were no fun at all to write even if they were necessary to the story.

As always PLEASE REVIEW IF YOU READ THE STORY. They're a vital part of my process to make sure I'm not doing you all wrong.


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